A Friend (or a Dozen) for Life
by Faberrittana99-03
Summary: Our Liars are kids! Spencer, Aria, Hanna, Emily, Alison, Courtney, and their families. Come join for birthdays, sleepovers, vacations, plus all the ups and downs of being a kid. Also, a tragedy strikes that will haunt the kids and their families for the rest of their lives, but can everyone survive it? 1st grade to HS Grad. Future pairings: Spoby, Haleb, Emaya, and Ezria. R/R!
1. Emison (1)

**Updated: April 18th, 2017. My bad! I have Alison and Courtney turning 6 as they are entering the first grade. I should have them be 7 years old so they match up with everyone's else's birthdays. Switched Alison age from 5 years old to: 6 years old.**

 **Updated: June 9th, 2017. Fixed grammar, spelling, etc. mistakes.**

* * *

 **Prompt: Little Emison friendship. Emily and Alison meet for the first time.**

 **Disclaimers: I don't own Pretty Litter Liars, its characters or the rights to the Rosewood Park.  
Spoilers: None.  
Rating: K+**

 **Enjoy! :)**

 **Jason: 8 years old.  
Emily: 6 years old.  
Alison: 6 (going on 7)**

* * *

 _ **Summer of 1996**_

* * *

Emily's dad is visiting home for a couple of weeks, so he decided to take Emily out for ice cream and to the park. Right now, the little girl and her dad are in the car, with the tiny brunette in the back rambling on about all the fun things she did in kindergarten and how fun she thinks 1st grade is going to be.

"Daddy, Daddy! Guess what else happened!" Emily continues and Wayne smiles.

"What else happened, baby?"

"Mr. Tyler, my teacher, he uh, uh…he _bwinged_ his pet bunny to class and we gotted to pet it!" Emily beams.

" _Brought_ , honey," He corrects out of habit. "Mr. Tyler _brought_ his bunny to class."

"Yeah! He _bwought_ his bunny to class. And guess what, Daddy! We gotted to keep it in our _woom_ and I was the bunny feeder and I gotted to feed him _ca'wots_!"

"Wow! That sounds like fun. Was it soft?"

"Uh, huh. _Weeeally_ soft!"

"Wow. Well, what color was it? Was it a purple bunny?" Wayne asks and then smiles when hears his baby squeal in laughter.

"No, Daddy! You're silly; bunnies can't be purple!"

"Oh, that's right. I forgot." He glances between the road and the rearview mirror. "What about pink? Was Mr. Tyler's bunny pink?"

"Daddy, no! They can't be pink _eider_!"

"Oh! Well, what color was it?"

"It was _bwown_ and white!"

"That sounds like a very pretty bunny. What did you feed to the bunny when you were the bunny feeder?" He asks as he pulls in to the ice cream parlor parking lot. He jumps out and rounds the car to the other side, opening the door and undoing Emily's car seat.

"I feeded him _cawots_ , Daddy!" Emily bounds up the sidewalk to the parlor. The two walk in and pick a seat as the line to the counter is really long. "I feeded him lots of _cawots_!"

"Fed, baby." He corrects again, smiling. "You _fed_ the bunny."

"That's what I said, Daddy!" Emily pouts and crosses her arms. Wayne has to smile at this; it's the exact same thing Pam would do when they were in high school and he was teasing her.

"Okay, sweetie. So, was the bunny a girl bunny or a boy bunny?" Wayne decides to change the subject back Emily's class bunny. It's actually an interesting conversation.

"It was a girl bunny!"

"What was her name?" Wayne asks.

"We named her 'Bunny'!" Emily beams and Wayne chuckles at the not-so-unique name.

"That sounds like a fantastic name." He tells her and she beams. "Now, how 'bout we go up to the counter and order some ice cream?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay! What kind do you want?" They walk up to the counter and Wayne lifts her up to see. "They have strawberry, chocolate and vanilla. Then there is Rocky Road, Banana Split and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough."

"Um…" Emily taps her finger on her chin, thinking for a moment. "I want _cho'late_!" The young-looking teenager, with the name badge that says 'Thomas', at the counter nods.

"Okay. And do you want any kind of toppings?"

" _Sp'inkles_!" Thomas scoops the ice cream out and then puts the topping on. He hands the ice cream to the little girl who happily begins to eat it.

"Emmy, sweetheart, what do you tell the nice man?" Wayne gently asks her.

"Thank you!" The boy smiles back.

"You're welcome, sweetie. You know, you remind me of my little sister. She's just about your age and loves chocolate ice cream too." Emily smiles at that. After Wayne orders his ice cream, the two leave and head to the park.

* * *

 ** _*Rosewood Park*_**

Emily ad Wayne eat their ice cream on a park bench, enjoying the sunshine. When she's done, Emily hops down from the bench.

"Can I go play on the swings, Daddy?"

"Sure, baby. But stay where I can see you, okay?"

"'Kay, Daddy!" Emily runs off towards the swings and climbs on one of the swings especially made for kids 4-8 years old. Emily jumps on and begins swinging.

After a few minutes, she stops, beginning to get bored, and decides to go play in the sandbox. There, she sees a little girl, about her age, with almost-ringlet like curly blonde hair and big blue eyes. The little girl is sitting beside herself in the sandbox, with her arms crosses, crying.

Emily frowns at this and walks over to her.

"Hi! My name is Emily, what's yours?" Emily greets as she plops down beside the upset blonde.

"Alison." The little girl replies.

"Hi, Alison! Do you wanna be my friend?"

Alison shrugs. "Sure." She mumbles and Emily smiles at her.

Yay! I'm glad." She frowns again when she notices her new friend is still upset. She has a sad face on, so Emily decides to do what her mommy and daddy and Mr. Tyler says she should do. Try to find out the problem and see if she can help.

"But why are you so sad? Did you get lost from your mommy and daddy?"

Alison shakes her head. Then she points to the other side of the playground, where a second sandbox is.

"My brother _taked_ my bucket from me! And he won't give it back!"

Emily frowns at this. During kindergarten, she learned all about sharing her toys and how it would hurt her feelings and the other kids' feelings if someone took their toy away.

"Well, you should tell your mommy on him!" Emily declares and the little blonde shrugs.

"My mommy doesn't care." And with that, Emily's frown deepens.

"Well, what if I _telled_ her?" Alison thinks about this and nods. She jumps up and Emily follows her over to a bench where a lady in a suit is sitting.

"This is my mommy," Alison says. "Her name is Jessica Dil-aur-ren-tis." She pronounces her last name very slowly because her teacher only had a limited amount of time to teach her. Alison was only being taught in class as Jessica and her dad were always too busy to help Ali with her homework.

"Hi, Miss Jessica!" Emily greets cheerfully, frowning when Jessica doesn't say anything.

"Mamma, this is Emily! She's my new friend!" Alison smiles joyfully, not being able to help herself. She's just so happy to have made a new friend.

"That's nice, dear," Jessica says dismissively. "Now, run along and play. We need to be going soon."

Emily frowns at her new friend's mom's lack of interest in her daughter. If Emily told her mommy and daddy she made a new friend, then they would be very happy and would say they were proud of her.

"Miss Jessica, Alison says her _broder_ taked away her bucket. Can you make him give it back?" Emily asks.

"Brother, dear." Jessica corrects and Emily frowns in confusion. "Didn't your mother and father ever teach you the proper way to speak?"

"That's what I said, _dough_." Emily says. "Alison's _broder_ taked away her bucket. Can you make him give it back?" She repeats adding 'please' in an effort to make her listen.

"Mamma," Alison decides to try. "Can you make Jas give my bucket back?"

"Alison, honey, just go play with your toys, okay? We're leaving soon." Jessica goes back to her phone, no longer paying attention to her daughter.

Emily watches as Alison's shoulders slump and makes up her mind. "Come on, Ali! Let's go see my daddy!" Emily takes off in the opposite direction with Alison following.

"Daddy, Daddy!" Emily bounces up and down making Alison giggle. "Daddy, this is my new friend, Alison. Ali, this is my daddy, but you can call him Mr. Wayne."

"Hi, Mr. Wayne." Alison waves shyly.

"Hello, sweetie. What are you girls up to?"

"Daddy, Alison's mom is being mean. Her _broder_ took away her bucket and her mommy won't do anything about it!"

"Well, I'm sorry about that, Alison. I think Emily has some sand toys in the back of the car; would you girls like to come and take a look?"

"Yeah! Come on, Ali; let's go!" The two girls run after Wayne as he leads them to the car. He opens the trunk and pulls out a bag.

"Let's see here, girls. We have two buckets, three shovels and some sand molders. Would you like to play with them?"

"Yes please, Daddy!" Emily cheers. "Can I have the pink bucket?"

"Well, why don't you let Alison pick since she doesn't have one to play with? Would that be ok?"

"Yeah! Ali, you can pick. Which color do you want?" Emily asks the blonde who immediately points to the sky-blue bucket.

"Blue to match my eyes!"

"I think that's a fine choice, Miss Alison," Wayne says, making her giggle.

"Thanks, Mr. Wayne!" She grabs the bucket out of the bag and then picks an orange shovel to go with it. "Come on, Em! Let's go make a _biiig_ castle!"

"Hold on, girls," Wayne calls out. "It looks like the sun is starting to come out. Why don't we put on some sunscreen so you don't get burned?"

"Okay, Daddy! Ali, did your mamma put sunscreen on you?" Emily asks her friend who shakes her head.

"No, my Mamma forgot too. But my _broder_ did! He put it on all by hisself. But, my Mamma didn't put none on me cause she forgot even though I reminded her."

"That's okay. I'll put it on you after I do Emily. Does that sound okay?" Alison nods and patiently waits her turn to be sprayed. She decides that she likes Mr. Wayne. He's much nicer than her mommy and daddy put together and he even has extra toys for Emily! After the two girls get sprayed, they run back to the sandbox.

"Emmy, you can make that side and I will make this side. 'Kay?" Alison says pointing it out. She and Emily begin filling the buckets up.

"My friend Jaime says you gotta pat the sand." Emily tells her. "Like this:" She demonstrates patting the sand each time she puts more in.

"Like this?" Alison confirms, doing it also.

"Yep!"

"Cool!"

"Okay, now we gotta turn it over. But be careful or all the sand will fall out." Emily tells her. She turns the bucket over, pats the top and then lifts it up. It's an almost-perfect sandcastle. Alison tries hers but as she lifts the bucket up, the sand falls out in to a pile.

"Aw! I didn't do it." Alison complains and Emily moves closer. "That's ok! Jaime said his did that too. I'll help you build your side." The two girls work in silence; Alison filling the bucket up and Emily doing the patting. Once they are done, Emily turns the bucket over and pats the top of it. Then she lifts it up.

"There! See? Now we gots two houses. Now we gotta do the middle." Emily digs around in the bag for the 'castle wall' moldings. She finds two, a short one and a long one, and hands the long one to Alison.

"You make the walls on that side and I'll do this side." The two girls work together until they have made a square out of the molds and two more 'towers' out of the buckets.

"Wow! Look what we did!" Alison beams.

"Cool! Now we need flags for the towers. Stay here and guard the castle; I'll go look for sticks and rocks so we can decorate it!" Alison nods and Emily jumps up. She goes over to the side of the fence that is lined with pine tree and begins picking up rocks and sticks.

She runs back over to the sandbox and dumps the things she found in front of herself and Alison.

"You do the flags and I'll do the rocks. Then, we can dig a mote and make _croc'diles_!"

"Okay!" Alison takes the sticks and begins putting them in the tops of the 'towers'. Then she helps Emily digs around the castle and they drop rocks in the hole as 'crocodiles'.

"Wait!" Emily yells before Alison can stand up. "We hafta make windows so the princesses can see outside!"

"Okay. You do _dat_ side and I can do _dis_ side." Alison says. She carefully takes a stick and pokes at the sand. Her daddy once taught her how to make windows. It was the only thing he did and it was mostly so Alison would leave him alone while he talked on the phone.

"I can't do it, Ali." Emily complains. Alison scoots over to her and takes her hand.

"You gotta do _dis_." She pokes at the sand. "My Daddy teached me how." She says. She pokes at the spot a couple more times and makes a five-year-old version of a square.

"There! See? You did it!" Emily beams at her. "I think we needs more flags." Alison says.

"Yeah! We can put bajillions and bajillions on it so it will be the bestest castle in the _whole kingdom_!"

The two run around the park for several minutes, and after hunting by the tree-lined fence, they find several 'flags' made out of little trigs that still have leaves on them. Alison and Emily stick three 'flags' in one tower, giving another up to six and the others four and five.

Alison turns to Emily and beams. "We did good!"

"Yeah! Let's go my daddy! He can take a picture so I can show my mommy!" Emily runs over to her dad, grabs his hand and drags him over.

"Daddy! Look at our castle!" Emily shouts, pointing to the sand creation.

"Wow! You two did a fantastic job. I'm very proud of you; both of you. I bet that castle is fit for a princess, don't you think?"

"Yeah! We made a _woom_ for Snow White and Cinderella." Emily says.

"And Ariel!" Alison adds, pointing to one of the towers. "This is her room and this is gonna be Aladdin's and _Jasmine's_ room!"

"Wow. I bet all the princesses are happy that you made them their very own rooms."

"Daddy, will take a picture so we can show mommy?" Emily asks.

"Sure, baby. I am going to get the camera and I want both of you to stay right here, understand?"

"Okay, Daddy." Emily agrees with Alison throwing in, "Yes, Mr. Wayne!" Wayne leaves for the car and comes back a few moments later.

"Okay, girls, get around your castle and smile for the camera." … "Say 'cheese'!"

"Cheese!" The girls beam and throw their hands up. Wayne snaps a few pictures and then he puts it back in his pocket.

"All right, lady bug, why don't you put everything back into your bag? I think it's about lunch time and mamma will be wondering where we are."

"Aw…" Emily scrunches up her nose then sighs. "Okay, Daddy. But can we come back tomorrow? _Pleeeaase_ , Daddy?"

Wayne chuckles. "Sure, baby. We can come back tomorrow. mommy might even be able to come with us. How does that sound?"

"Good!" She turns to Alison. "Ali, are you gonna be here too?"

Alison shrugs. "I don't know. Pro'bly not cause my mommy won't bring me and my daddy is always workin'."

"What if my daddy came and got you? Can we do that, Daddy?"

"Well, I don't know if Alison's mom would like that. She doesn't know me very well and I don't think she'd like someone who is a stranger to her coming and picking up her daughter to take her to the park."

"But what is you go over and tell her your name? Then you won't be a stranger no more! She will know your name is Mr. Wayne and you're my daddy and you'll know her name is Ms. Jessica and she's Ali's mommy."

Wayne thinks about it for a moment and decides it really couldn't hurt to give it a try. He nods. "Okay. But I want you to gather your toys up while I am talking to her, okay? That way we can leave and be home in time for lunch."

"Okay, Daddy." Emily beams and then her and Alison begin gathering up her sand toys. They stack the buckets up and then put the shovels inside with the sand molds. A few minutes later Wayne comes back over. Jessica actually agreed and said he could pick Alison up at 10:30 the next day. The girls will come to the park, have a picnic lunch and then go to Emily's house for a movie and probably naptime.

"Are you ready to go, sweetie?"

"Yes, Daddy! I have all my sand toys picked up." Wayne nods.

"Good girl. Now, tell Ali bye and that you'll see her tomorrow. Alison, your mom said I can pick you up at 10:30 a.m., okay? We'll come to the park and have a picnic lunch. Then you can come over and watch a movie with Emily. Does that sound okay to you?"

Alison's eyes sparkle and she nods enthusiastically. "Yeah! That sounds like a lot of fun, Mr. Wayne."

"Well, I'm glad. Now, it's time for us to go, but we will see you at 10:30 sharp tomorrow morning. Goodbye, Alison."

"Bye, Ali!" Emily waves as she and her dad head to the parking lot. They head home where Pam has made a lunch of chicken nuggets, mash potatoes and corn (Emily's favorite). Emily tells her all about her brand new friend and Pam tells her she is very proud of Emily for making Ali feel better when she was upset. She also says that she cannot wait to meet Emily's new friend the next day.

That night, both girls go to bed. Emily's mom and dad read her a story and tucks her in while Alison puts on her favorite pajamas, climbs into bed and then pulls the covers up to her chin and smiles as she 'tucks' herself in.

Emily and Alison both cannot wait for the next morning and for the following days, weeks and even years that are sure to bring a long, happy friendship to both of them.

* * *

 **And here we are. Please review and let me know how you liked little Ali and little Em!**

 **Next up:** ** _Alison's 6th birthday party_** **.**

 **Everyone will be in the chapters, but the extra people will be:**

 **Jason - Alison/big brother.  
Lucas - Hanna's big brother through adoption.  
Melissa - Spencer's big sister.  
Mike- Aria's little brother.  
Courtney- Jason's little sister. Alison's twin sister.  
Caleb  
Toby  
Everyone's parents.**

* * *

 ** _Things that will be the same:_**

 **Haleb, Ezria, Emaya, Spoby.  
Samara shows up, but doesn't date Emily.  
Maya is killed.**

 **Trouble from** _ **A**_ **.  
Mona will hit Hanna.  
Mona will be put in Radley.**

 **Hanna gives Aria's mom the art gallery tickets.  
Ella and Byron do split.  
Ashley and Tom split; yes to Isobel and Kate, but idk # of appearances, (up to you guys).**

* * *

 ** _Things that will be different:_**

 **Samara and Maya are best friends.  
Emily stays on the swim team; she never injuries her shoulder.**

 **Mona doesn't go missing during Thanksgiving.**

 **Alison won't go missing.  
Emily won't be put into the hospital b/c of **_**A**_ **.  
There is no Ian drama, Dr. Sullivan, or separating the girls.  
** **Wayne does not die.**

 **Mel and Wren stay together.  
Melissa gets pregnant and has a beautiful baby girl named Taylor.**

* * *

 _ **Things I'm not sure about:**_

 **Doll House  
Halloween train ride/Aria getting hurt.  
Melissa and Spencer get along.  
No Charlotte/CeCe drama.**

 _ **Note: I may do a Charlotte Dilaurentis character. If so, she will be normal and won't be changed to Charles or CeCe, or be ~A**_ **.**

* * *

 **I plan to do this with the other girls like Sparia, Spemily, Hannily. Let me know and I'll give it to you.**

 **I can do anything you want, just include these three things:**

 **Ages of the kids.  
Who you want.  
What's happening.**

 **This is crossed-over with Glee. Glee people: Rachel Berry, Quinn Fabray, Brittany Pierce, and Santana Lopez. Brittana relationship and Faberry friendship. They will enter one-by-one somewhere between 6th and 8th grade for the PLL girls.**


	2. A & C's 6th Birthday Party

**Updated to include Courtney Dilaurentis: October 30th, 2016.**

 **Updated to switch twins' age from 5 going on 6 to 6 going on 7, and fixed a couple other mistakes: April 18th, 2017.**

* * *

 **Note: I know Courtney doesn't have a big part in this chapter, but I promise she will in future ones. Right now, it's all about Alison, and being her twin sister, even at seven, Court knows not to interfere.**

 **Enjoy! :)**

 **Alison's classmates are all 6 years old. Emily is the only Little Liar attending and who knows Alison and Court.**

* * *

 _ **A couple of days before A & C's 7** **th** **birthday**_

* * *

A few days before Alison and Courtney's party, the little girls' mom walks into the princess-themed room where they are playing to discuss the last-minute details of said party.

"Alison, sweetheart, come sit by mommy for a minute. You too, Courtney." Jessica says, patting the bed beside her. Alison and Courtney both look over from playing with their Barbie castle. Alison looks skeptical for moment, like she's not sure what her mommy really wants. But, she gets up anyway, and walks over to her bed.

Courtney follows, thinking that if Alison thinks it's ok for her than it's probably ok for herself also.

"What is it, Mom?" Alison asks. Courtney watches with interest waiting for the answer.

"I would like to know what you would like to do for your birthday this year."

Alison looks confusedly at Jessica. For the past five birthdays, it's been a mix between a couple of gifts and a single 'happy birthday, Alison & Courtney', and three to four gifts, a cake and a couple of 'happy birthdays'. Nothing special; like them turning another year older, like the day that signifies it's been another year since they were born, wasn't –isn't– worth celebrating.

Courtney's eyes widen. She can't believe that her mom is actually asking about their birthday. She thought it would be the same as last year: their Nanny Mary putting up decorations, filling out the invitations and throwing them a party, while their brother was at a friends' house or upstairs, and their mom and dad on another business trip.

Alison thinks this, too. They both have been there. They've spent the night at their friends' houses. They've seen their faces light-up when they see their party decorations, a table decorated in princesses or pirates, butterflies or other bugs, rainbows or camo colors, and other themed party stuff. They see their reactions to the big piles of gifts on the table. And their reactions when their mommies and daddies say 'Hey! There's the Birthday Princess (or Birthday Boy)!' and sweep them off their feet for a special birthday morning hug and kiss.

Courtney and Alison wonder why _their_ mommy and daddy never decorate a whole room with a Birthday Banner, streamers, balloons and other decorations. She wonders why _their_ mommy and daddy don't have a certain table set aside with a purple or blue or pink tablecloth, and a 'Birthday Chair', specifically for where the birthday girl or boy will sit. She wonders why _their_ mommy and daddy never have a big pile of presents waiting for them at the end of the table.

But, most of all, they wonder why _their_ mommy and daddy never sweep them off their feet when they enter the kitchen in the morning, yelling out happily, "There's our Birthday Girls! Happy Birthday, Princess Alison and Princess Courtney!" and give them special birthday morning hugs and kisses.

So, here they sit. Courtney sits in awe as does Alison, like both five year olds don't believe this is actually happening. Their mother has asked the question they've been wanting to hear ever since they had understood the actual purpose of a birthday. Both of them heard it, and they are oh, so smart, and they know exactly what was asked. So why can't they seem to give her mom an answer?

"Alison, I'm waiting." Their mother says, slightly impatient. She knows Courtney won't answer, that she'll wait for Alison and just agree. At least she's been around them enough to know that _one_ thing.

Alison snaps out of it and begins to think. Her sister stays quiet, like she, herself, is still trying to process. "Um…may I have a princess birthday? With a princess birthday cake and some bouncy houses? We can have water gun fights, too. And we can wear princess dresses, with pretty rings and necklaces, and have wands and glitter shoes to match, and…" She just can't help it. She's so excited. Courtney just nods in agreement. She feeds off her sister's energy and starts bouncing and smiling in anticipation.

She remembers last year, their fifth birthday party and how Alison had thrown a fit and all the attention had been solely on her. At least Alison picked a princess party for this year, which is what Courtney would have chosen herself.

Their mother nods and smiles, even though it's not completely genuine, and stands from the bed. "If that is what you want, so be it." Alison beams. That means yes! "Please do not make a mess with the toys, Alison. Courtney that goes for you, too." Her mother continues. "We're having company soon."

And with that, Jessica leaves Alison's room.

* * *

 _ **July 18** **th** **, 1996.  
Alison and Courtney's 7** **th** **birthday**_

* * *

Thursday morning, when Alison and Court awake, Alison pops up in bed with a big giant smile on her face. It is her birthday! Today she is 7 years old! That means no more car seats (Alison was small for age and was in a booster seat at 6), no more training wheels, no more "baby" cups, and no more having to stay home when her friends go to sleepovers. Across the hall, Courtney is slowly dragging herself out of bed. Her sister is an early rising, but the other seven-year-old would love to sleep the morning away.

Alison jumps out of bed and runs down the stairs. For a split second, when she comes around the corner to the kitchen, she thinks she'll see her mommy and daddy waiting to give her hugs and kisses.

She frowns and her shoulders sag just a tad when she does not see them. But she doesn't let that stop her. Today, she is going to be happy the whole entire time.

She goes outside and sees people she doesn't know. Some are blowing up the two bounce houses. Then there are some laying out tables with princess tablecloths. Alison tiptoes out onto the porch. She looks back as she hears the sliding doors and notices Courtney.

She points excitedly to the decorations. "Look, Court!" She whispers. "Mamma _did_ do it!"

The two look out, and Courtney beams.

"Oooh...," Courtney beams. "Look at all the pretty princess stuff, Ali!"

They see the tables also have wands, princess crowns and little goodie bags. Hanging on the porch railing are several little princess dress-up outfits. Ariel, Cinderella, Snow White…Alison gasps as she sees her favorite: Sleeping Beauty.

"Oh, look, Ali!" Courtney exclaims. "They have Snow White!"

They all have matching shoes–that are sparkly–and some have their white gloves. This all looks so much fun! Alison can't wait for her friends to get here so they can all play and have a good time.

Soon, Alison and Courtney are being called inside for breakfast.

"Happy birthday, Courtney! Happy birthday, Alison!" Mary exclaims as the twins walk into the kitchen. She sits two plates down. One has French toast with syrup and chocolate milk, the other two pancakes with a whip cream smile. Both have a side of strawberries. The famous Dilaurentis birthday breakfast.

After that, the girls go upstairs to change, and brush their teeth and hair. Once they are done with all of that, Alison sits on the couch for a couple of hours watching her favorite cartoons, while Courtney goes outside to look at the decorations some more. It's only 9:30 and their guests aren't due to arrive until 11:30, just in time for lunch.

The doorbell rings, and Alison jumps up, eager to see who it is. She frowns when she notices

Alison hears the doorbell ring and jumps off the couch. She swings it open and beams as she sees her friends, Elizabeth, Anna and Nicole. They all live within a few blocks of each other, so Beth's mom carpooled them here.

"Hi Beth!" Alison says happily, while Courtney says, "Hi, Anna and Nic!"

"Hi, Ali! Hi, Courty!" They all beam back. "Happy birthday!"

"Girls, why don't we come inside?" Beth's mom, Susan, says.

"Yeah, come in! You can put my presents outside. Come on, I'll show you!" Alison says, moving aside to let her guests in.

"Miss Susan, my mom and dad aren't here, but my nanny is in the kitchen if you wanna see her." Alison tells the older woman.

"Okay, sweetie. Thank you." Susan makes her to the kitchen, frowning at the younger blonde's words. Her mother and father aren't here? On their daughter's birthday of all days?

"Wow!" Anna exclaims when she steps out the back and sees her friend's backyard. Bounce houses, princess dresses and accessories, a place for them to have water gun fights. "This is so cool, Ali!"

"Yeah, Alison! This is cool!" Then Beth spots the water guns. "Oh! Can we play with your water guns?"

"I don't know." Alison shrugs. "We hafta ask my nanny." Alison runs inside and comes back a few moments later. Her nanny had said yes. The little girls head to the bathroom to change and, just as they are coming out, Mary, Alison's nanny, informs Emily has arrived.

Alison takes off in that direction, and skids to a half when she sees her new best friend. "Emmy!" She squeals, throwing her arms around the brunette's neck.

Emily giggles and hugs back. "Hi, Ali! Happy birthday!"

"Thanks, Emmy. Hi, Mr. Wayne!" She greets the other girl's father.

"Hello, Alison. Happy birthday. Where should I put you present?"

"Outside on the present table. Can Emily come with us, Mr. Wayne? We're playing with my water guns!"

"Sure. Go on, Em. I'll be out there in just a moment." The group of girls run off to the backyard.

"Emmy, this is my sister Courtney." Alison says, introducing her new, brunette friend to her twin sister. "She's my twin sister, and she's turning 7 today, too!"

"Awesome! Hi, Courtney! My name is Emily Marie Fields!" Ever since she could memorize her full name, and learned to write it last year, she's been telling people it when introducing herself. "Happy birthday!"

Ali's lookalike grins. "Hi, Emily! Come on! Let's go to the backyard.!"

By the time all the water guns are filled, pink for the girls and blue for the boys, three more kids have arrived. Who knew Alison could be this popular?

The kids split into two teams: team one, which consist of Emily, Alison, Anna and Nicole. And team two, which has Beth, Danielle, Jess and Amanda.

The girls all line up facing each other in the middle of the yard. Then they take off, spaying one another and trying to get to the porch, bounce houses, and the trees which are the 'bases'.

Emily squeals as she is almost hit by Beth. She takes off to the tree, hiding behind and using it as a shield, while trying to spray Beth and Jess.

"Ali, help!" She yells and Alison runs over, giggling.

"Don't worry, Emmy! I'll help! You get Beth and I'll get Jessica!" the two girls start shooting and Beth squeals before running away. Emily and Alison follow them.

"You can't get us!" Anna yells to Dani and Amanda. She runs to the porch and jumps onto one of the steps.

"Ha! I'm on base! You can't get me now!" Across the yard, Alison is cornering Jessica.

Alison spray some water and hits Jess in the arm.

"Jess, I got you!" She cheers. "You're out! You hafta go sit on the porch now."

"Hey! That's not fair; I couldn't get away! You _twapped_ me, Ali." Jessica says, her hands on her hips.

"So? I still say you're out. Go sit on the porch."

"No, Ali. That's not how the game works. It just means you hit me." The brunette six-year-old says, folding her arms and waiting for the 'Alison tantrum' to make a show.

"Yes, huh. It's my birthday so I make the rules." Alison says, also folding her arms. She steps closer to Jessica.

"No you don't. It's not fair that way. 'Cause if we do it your way, then everyone _but_ you will get out, and then it won't be fair!" Jess doesn't yell it, but she does say it with emphasis, remembering how Alison's 'games' worked on the playground.

"It is too fair! If you get hit, then you're out. It's my party and my birthday, so what I say goes." Alison gives a little shove.

Jessica shoves her back, causing her to stumble. "I don't wanna play with you if you're gonna be a big meanie!" Jessica yells. "I'm going home!" the little brunette storms off towards the porch after throwing down her water gun. The other little girls stop their own playing to watch the argument.

When she sees her twin is leaving, Amanda throws her own gun down and runs over. "Wait for me, Jess!" She calls. "I want to come, too!"

"No! Amanda, you're stayin' here. If Jessica wants to be a crybaby and leave, then let'er." Alison huffs.

Jessica turns from putting her shoes on and sees that her sister has stopped walking over. "Come on, 'Manda! Who's it gonna be? You're sister or _her_?" Amanda turns to Alison and shrugs.

"Sorry, Ali." The six-year-old says. "But sissies go over friends." With that, the little blonde runs to the porch and grabs her own shoes. Then the two go inside where their big brother is waiting. He heard everything, and decides not to question when the two girls ask to go home even before cake and ice cream.

Outside, Alison huffs and turns back to the other girls.

She doesn't say anything, and neither do they, but Emily does come over and suggests playing in the bounce houses while lunch is being grilled –hamburgers and hot dogs.

"Race ya to the jumpy houses!" Beth yells and then she takes off. She, Anna, Nicole and Dani go to one while Emily and Ali race each other to second one.

"Em, watch me do a flip!" Alison says, bouncing in the air. She jumps a couple of times and then does a front flip.

"Wow! That's cool, Ali! Watch me!" Emily bounces on her knees a little and then does a somersault.

"Cool. I can do that too." Alison copies her and they both grin.

After about ten more minutes of playing, the girls are called over to each. Everyone enjoys a lunch of hamburgers, hot dogs, and juice boxes.

"Nana, when can we put on our dresses?" Alison asks.

"Well, do you all want to put them on now?" Mary asks her. Alison nods and she, Courtney, and her friends race upstairs to Alison's room. Danielle's older sister, Julie, helps the girls into their dresses, and then slips their crowns on. She makes sure everyone has their pretend high heel shoes on before herding the girls back downstairs. Alison goes over to the table and sits, the other girls gathering around her.

* * *

"Okay, girls." Mary calls out. "Time for presents. I want you all to go and get the present your brought, then we'll go in a circle and you can give Alison her gifts.

The little girls all pile around, Emily being the closest. "Here, Ali." She says, holding up a blue and white polka dotted wrapped present. "This is from me!"

Alison opens it and beams when she sees it's a small scrapbook. She opens it up and flips through the pages. It has the photos of the sandcastle the two girls made, photos of their first, and second, sleepover which includes making ice cream sundaes, playing in the pool and catching fireflies. It also has when they spent Fourth of July weekend together, them at the fireworks tent, and then playing with sparklers, confetti and watching the fireworks display in town.

"Cool! Thanks, Emmy!" Alison beams at her friend. For the next ten minutes, the little girl opens up her presents from her friends.

"Here is a present from me, Ali!" Dani says, holding up a box. Alison thanks her and then tears into it. It a friendship-bracelet making kit. It comes with different colored beads that have letters and symbols on them, and different colored string.

"Wow! This is so cool! I get to make my very own _brwacelets_."

"Yeah, and then we can match!" Dani smiles holding up her arm, which has a pink friendship bracelet on it.

"Open mine next, Ali!" Anna says, holding out a bag. Alison opens it and pulls out a pretty blue short-sleeve shirt. It has hearts and sparkles on it and is just the right shade to make Alison's eyes pop.

"Oh, it's so _pwetty_ , Anna! Thank you!" Alison continues to open all the presents, some girls getting her two, one that is the main size, and then a little, miniature box or bag.

She receives some pretty outfits, along with the blue sparkly shirt, some play jewelry with a makeup bag that has pretend makeup in it. She also receives a couple of princess movies, three different Scooby-Doo movies, and a $10 gift card for Toys 'R Us from Mary.

"Wow! I got so many _pwesents_! Thank you everyone! I love them!"

"You're welcome, Ali." "You're welcome, Alison!" The girls call back.

Then, Courtney gets to open her presents. The first one is from Dani. It's a little art set; markers, crayons, a notebook, and a new coloring book.

"Wow! This is so cool! Thanks, Dani! Now I have a brand new princess coloring book! Look, Nanny Mary!"

Next are some clothes. She gets a couple of outfits that match Alison's, and a few shirts, shorts, and sandals that are purple and sparkly.

"Oh, look what Nic got me, Nanny Mary! The sandals that light up! They're pink and purple, and very sparkly! These are cool; thank you, Nicole!"

Then she receives some Scooby-Doo movies as well.

Where Alison received _Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf_ and _Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School_ , Courtney received _Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers_ and _Scooby-Doo! In Arabian Nights_.

Courtney gasps and her eyes sparkle when she rips opens the package and finds, " _Scooby and the Boo Brothers!_ You _did_ get it, Nanny Mary! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Mary chuckles a bit and smiles back, "You're welcome, sweetheart."

Courtney opens a few more presents. She loves to go shopping, so she received a few more outfits than Alison did, and a $15 gift-card to her favorite clothing store.

"Open mine next, Courtney!" Anna says, handing her a bag. She takes it and opens it, grinning at what's inside.

"Oh, you got me the new Barbie and Ken! Thanks, Anna!"

"You're welcome, Courtney." Anna grins.

"Here are your presents from Jess and Amanda, Court." Mary hands her two bags that are identical to each other.

Next, Mary brings the girls over to the table for cake and ice cream. Alison sits at the head of the table, and Mary places the cake in front of her.

It's a pink princess cake with "Happy 7th Birthday, Alison!" written on it. There's a pink, sparkly #7 candle that Mary lights.

The other one is a purple Princess Snow White cake. It has "Happy 7th Birthday, Courtney!" written in light purple icing. There is also a #7 candle on it that is purple. Courtney will get hers lit after Alison.

"Okay, is everyone ready? 1…2…3…

 _Happy Birthday to you,  
Happy Birthday to you!  
_ _Happy Birthday dear Alison Grace;  
_ _Happy Birthday to you!_ "

Alison makes a wish and blows out the candles, her guest clapping and cheering for her.

"What did ya wish for?" Emily asks.

"Silly, Emmy. If you tell you, then it won't come true!" Alison says, smiling at her new best friend.

"All right, everyone. Now it's Courtney's turn. You ready, Court-Court?"

"Yes!" Courtney beams as she bounces on her heels. Mary lights the candle and then they begin singing for Courtney,

"Happy _Birthday to you,  
Happy Birthday to you!  
Happy Birthday dear Courtney Faith;  
Happy Birthday to you!_"

Everyone cheers and claps as she makes a wish _~I wish Ali was nicer to me~_ and blows out the candle.

Mary slices the cake and dishes out the ice cream. The kids enjoy the cake and ice cream that's topped with sprinkles and cherries.

After a while, the guests start to leave. Wayne decides Emily can spend the night and goes home to the little girl her overnight bag.

That night, the three girls lay in Alison's canopy bed, Courtney wanting to stay close to her new best friend.

"Did you have a fun birthday, Ali?" Emily asks.

"Yep! It was the funniest, Emmy." Alison smiles. "What about you, sissy?" She asks Courtney, who's on her other side.

"Yes, I had lots'a fun, today. Good night, Emmy. Good night, Ali."

"Night, Court! Night-night, Emmy."

"Night-night, Ali! Good night, Court!" The three fall asleep that night, curled up together, all with big smiles on their faces, and all exhausted from their day of play.

* * *

 **Here is an updated version of Alison's party. A little bit with Courtney. Like I said, Courtney will have a bigger part in the upcoming chapters. :)**

 _ **Next Up: Mommy, I Made a New Friend**_ **\- The girls tell of their first day of school.**


	3. Mommy, I Made a New Friend!

**Updated to include Courtney Dilaurentis: October 30th, 2016.**

 **Updated to fix dates: June 23rd, 2017.**

* * *

 _ **September 8th, 1996  
3:15 p.m.  
**_

* * *

 _ ***Rosewood Elementary***_

At exactly 3:15 p.m. Monday afternoon, six first-grader, –three brunette and three blonde-haired, blue-eyed girls– sat with the rest of the group of children in the Car Riders group. It's been a busy and hectic day, with getting the kids settled, learning new names, getting the extra classroom supplies put away, and making sure everyone was all set.

The kids are currently playing hopscotch with a few spare pieces of chalk that the duty teacher gave them. After a while, the groups start too thin out from kids leaving, until everyone but Hanna, Luke, and few other 2nd and 4th graders are left. Finally, Hanna and Luke's mom and dad pull up and they jump up, grabbing their bags before skipping to the car.

* * *

 _ ***Marin Residence***_

Later that night, at dinner Tom and Ashley sit and listen as Lucas tells all about his first day of third grade. Then it's Hanna's turn. She beams as she remembers meeting the girls. She smiles as she remembers how her new friend Emily helped her tie her shoes at recess and shared her crayons during free time, and how Spencer knew how to count all the way up to 25 in French and 15 in Spanish, and how Aria could draw really pretty pictures.

"Mommy, guess what happened today!"

"What happened today, baby?"

I made five new friends!" Hanna answers excitedly while Lucas rolls his eyes.

"Really, Hannie? Five friends? I bet four of them are imaginary." Lucas teases, remembering all Hanna's imaginary friends and their names from the year before. Hanna did everything with her friends; they had their own dinner plate, their own seat in the car, they played games with Hanna.

Hanna frowns at him as does Tom.

"Lucas, don't tease your sister." Tom chides his son. "You've made more than one friend on the first day before, and it isn't nice to tease her about imaginary friends. If I remember correctly, you had one when you were Hanna's age." He turns to Ashley. "What was his name, honey? Barbie? Bunny?"

Lucas scowls. "His name was Bobby, and I don't believe in him anymore. Imaginary friends are for babies, anyways. And I'm not a baby. I'm eight years old and I can almost do all the grown up stuff you can do."

"Well, then, Hanna is still young enough for an imaginary friend. And there is nothing wrong with it. If I hear of you teasing again, you'll have no Gameboy for one month."

"Dad! That's not fair! A whole month just 'cause I teased Hanna about being a baby? That's so dumb!" Lucas scowls even more, upset, and Tom opens his mouth to give him a piece of his mind. Ashley sighs, and holds up a hand.

"Boys, please! Let's have a nice, calm, family dinner, and let Hanna finish telling us about her day. Hanna, you may continue."

"Well, Emily, Alison and her twin sister, Courtney, are in my room, which is Miss Rose's room, but Spencer and Aria are in Miss Bridget's room. We played together on the merry-go-round, and the slide, and the monkey bars, and the jungle gym at recess!"

"Wow! Daddy and I are very proud of you, sweetie." Ashley tells her. "I'm glad you two had so much fun today."

* * *

 _ ***Hastings Residence***_

"Mommy!" Spencer yells as she runs into the kitchen with Melissa on her heals. The first and third graders find their parents in the den, watching a movie and waiting for them to get home. They rode the bus today because Spencer wanted to ride and see what it felt like so Mel volunteered to ride with her because she knows the older kids love to pick on the elementary children.

"Mom, Daddy, guess what! I made five new friends today! Their names are Aria –she's in my class– and Emily, Hanna and Alison and her twin sister, Courtney. They're in Miss Rose's room. We had so much fun! Aria can draw really, really well, and she drew a picture of her family. Miss Bridget put it up on the board and said it was the pretest picture she's ever seen. And Emily says she can swim really, really good too. Hanna knows how to jump rope, and she's gonna brings hers to school tomorrow so she can teach me, and Alison is kind of mean and I don't think I'll like her, but when she was mean to Hanna, Emily told her to stop, and she did! Like Emily was the boss of her or something! Her sister, Courtney, is different than her. She's quiet and nice, and minds her own business. But then we played outside at recess and we ran around and had so much fun! We played tag, and house, and even freeze tag which was a lot of fun, too! In the morning, during the time where we told our name and one special thing about us, Aria said she likes to draw and she can even draw really cool looking flowers and really pretty pictures of her baby brother, Mike, who is four years old and in preschool. And Emily told me that she told her class that she likes to swim and her daddy is in Afghanistan and Hanna says she likes playing with her American Girl Dolls. Alison didn't say much. I think she may be snobby, but Emily keeps her "in check" and makes sure she doesn't say anything mean, or rude, or hateful, and that she makes her say 'sorry' if does say something like that. Courtney says she like watching princess movies and she can count in French!" Spencer finally takes a breath after saying all of that in nearly one big breath.

"Wow," Peter says, smiling at his youngest daughter. "It sounds like you had a wonderful day, sweetheart. I am very happy, and very proud that you made so many friends today, Spence."

"So am I, sweetheart." Veronica agrees. "It sounds like you had fun with your new friends."

"I did! I think we are going to be best friends forever! Even Alison and I, because I like a challenge, and I think she is going to be the biggest of all the girls. Aria and I even made up a special name for just the two of us. You wanna hear it?"

"Sure, let's hear what your special name is." Mel smiles at her baby sister's excitement and for once, she doesn't mind sitting back and letting Spencer have all their mom and dad's attention.

Telling about her first day of third grade can wait, she decides as she listens to Spencer begin to tell about the special name she and Aria, and her other friends picked out specially for them.

"Okay! Me and her decided that we wanted to be called "Team Sparia" because we are best friends and she is the only friend I have in my class. Emmy and Hannie and Alison say it's a good name too! We even made one up for Ali and Emmy. They're "Team Emison". That's the E-m-i from Emily and s-o-n from Alison! Hannie and I are "Team Spanna". You take the S-p from my name and the a-n-n-a from Hanna's and you get "Spanna". We haven't thought of anyone else's "Team" names yet, though."

After Spencer gets done with her share of her day, the attention moves on to Melissa and Spencer goes to her room to get ready for dinner and her bath, and then for reading a chapter from the book she is currently reading.

* * *

 ** _*Fields' Residence*_**

Over at Emily's house, Pam is getting ready to talk to her husband on the phone. They set aside a time for Emily to talk to her dad, and right now the little girl is brushing her teeth. She's ate dinner, took a bath and currently has spaceship pajamas on.

"Em, come say hi to daddy!" Pam calls and the tiny brunette comes running down the stairs. Pam puts the phone on speaker, and sits at the table with Emily on her lap.

"Hi, Daddy!" She shouts happily and Wayne chuckles over the phone.

"Hi, Emmy!" He gives back an equal amount of enthusiasm. "How was your first day of first grade, my big girl?"

"It was fantastic!" Emily answers gleefully and again Wayne chuckles.

"That's great, baby! Can you tell me something really special that happened today?"

"Yeah, Daddy guess what! I made _five_ new friends today!" Emily says excited and Wayne smiles over the phone.

"You did, baby?" He confirms, and he hears an enthusiastic 'uh-huh' from his baby girl. "Daddy is so proud of you, baby girl. So, so very proud. Why don't you tell me all about your friends, huh? What are their names?"

"Okay! Well, first is Hanna. She's really pretty! She has blonde hair and blue eyes. She's in my class. Then there is Ali! Do you remember Ali, Daddy? We met her at the park! She and Court are in _my_ classroom _with me_ , Daddy! Isn't that cool?"

"Yes, that is very cool, baby." Wayne answers honestly. He's glad the little blonde that Emily instantly took a liking to over the summer is in the same room as her, so that they can stay friends throughout first grade.

"Well, then there are Aria and Spencer. Aria is short, so she needs help reaching the monkey bars. But I helped her, Daddy, and Spencer is super tall so she helped her too, and Aria made all the way across the monkey on her _first_ try! Spence and Ari are in Ms. Bridget's room."

"Wow, honey. It sounds like you had a fantastic first day, and I am very proud of you for making so many friends."

Emily and Pam talk for a little bit more with Wayne before he has to go. Emily takes a bathroom break and then it's story and bedtime for the little girl. She gets comfy in her pink Princess canopy bed, and Pam starts in on Emily's favorite book: _Goodnight, Moon_.

* * *

 _ ***Montgomery Residence***_

At the Montgomery house, dinner conversation is filled with Mike telling all about how he is the line leader in his classroom, how they have a fish that the kids collectively name _Tiger_ and how they had cookies and milk for snack.

After Mike tells about his day, it is finally Aria's turn. The little first grader is thrilled to tell all about her new friends. Just like the other girls, Aria give a play-by-play about her day with her friends, whose room they're in, and what each girl can do.

"Spence is super tall! She can reach the monkey bars all on her own! She likes to read a lot of books, too, and she can even read books from second grade! Emmy is really nice. She has long brown hair and really pretty eyes and she says she can swim like a fish! Can we invite her over to go swimming in our pool, Mamma?"

"Sure, sweetie. We'll talk to her mom and dad, okay?"

"No, you'll hafta talk to her Mamma cause her Daddy is in _Afgan'stan_."

"Oh, ok. We'll talk to her mom then."

"Okay! Well, Spence is in my class with Ms. Bridget. And Emmy, Hanna and Ali and her sister, Courtney -they're twins-, are in Ms. Rose's room! Hanna and Ali and Court all have blonde hair and blue eyes, except Ali's hair is super curly. Court's is really straight. Hanna likes to draw like me and she can even jump rope! She's gonna bring hers to school tomorrow and show me and Spence how to do it! Ali is kinda mean. She likes to pick on the kids and she even made a little kindergartener cry when she made them get off the swings! But Emmy stopped her and told her to be nice, and she even made Ali say 'sorry' to the kid. And she did! Then she gave the swing back to him and we went to the slides and played. Court is quiet. I think I'll like her. She isn't mean to kids like Ali is."

"Wow, it sounds like you had a great day. I'm so glad you made so many friends, honey. You're going to have a great year in first grade." Ella tells her with a kiss to the forehead.

After talking a little bit more, it gets close to Mike's bedtime, so Ella gives him a bath before reading a story to the worn out preschooler. Aria gets to stay up half an hour later than Mike, so after her bath and laying out clothes, and brushing her teeth, she settles down on the could to finish the Princess movie she has started the night before.

* * *

 **So, if you are reading this on or after the date above, review or PM me and let me know what you think of Courtney so far.**

 _ **Next Up: I Made a New Friend**_ **\- Alison's version of this chapter.**


	4. I Made a New Friend! (A & C)

**So, this was requested by _SethuEmaya_. They wanted to read about Alison telling about her day.**

 **Also, a big thanks to Emilie2601. She has been helping write this story and PLL, giving me ideas and sorting through my own. She is responsible for several chapter in PLL. :) Go give her stories a try! They're wonderful!**

 **Enjoy. :)**

* * *

 _ **September 8th, 1996**_

* * *

 ** ** _Dilaurentis Household*_****

At around 3:30 p.m., little Alison and Courtney are dropped off from the bus at their house. Alison is __so__ excited to get inside and tell her nanny Mary __everything__ that happened to day. She got to see Emily, she found out she and Emily are in the same class and she met __four__ new friends.

Courtney is also excited, but she knows how her sister is. Everything has to come first, __for__ and __to__ her. So as Alison runs up to the house and bursts through the door with her brother Jason behind her, Courtney makes her way upstairs to her room to put her bag away. Alison skips into the kitchen and over to Mary.

"Nanny Mary!" She shouts, throwing her arms around Mary's legs. The older woman turns around and smiles at the little blonde.

"Hey! How was school, sweetheart?"

"It was __fantastic__ , Nanny Mary!" Alison exclaims and Mary laughs at the little girl's enthusiasm.

"Really? Well, why don't you sit down here, have one of these delicious cookies I made, and tell me all about your __fantastic__ day you had at school?" Alison bounds over to the table and climbs into her seat. She takes a couple of cookies and thanks Mary for her milk-filled Princess Aurora cup.

"Well, first we went to our room. It's so cool, Nanny Mary! We have a special place where we can go and read, and guess what!"

"What?"

"It even had The Cat in the Hat books! I read one all by myself, just like you taught me and Ms. Rose said she is very proud of me. Then, Emily walked in! She's in my class and she even sits by me! Then, a girl named Hanna walked in." Alison scrunches her nose at this. "She went to her seat and didn't even talk to no one. Emmy said I hadta be nice to her." Alison adds in a tone that suggests she might have been a little mean to Hanna at first.

"We have a fish tank in our room! We have a goldfish whose name is Nemo and a blue fish whose name is Dorey! Then Ms. Rose gave out _'_ _ _pecial__ assignments. Hanna is the line leader, Emmy gets to push in all the chairs at the end of the day and even take them down from the desks in the mornings, and I'm the snack helper! You know what I get to do?"

Mary shakes her head, pretending not to know. She's never seen Alison this excited and doesn't want to ruin it for the little girl.

"I get to hand out napkins and milks at snack time! Then, Ms. Rose said if I be extra careful, I can take the trashcan around for the kids to throw their stuff away! I did it today! We had apple slices and milk. It was yummy.

"At Share Time, we went around and told our names. Then we said one thing we like to do. There was a girl named Courtney and her sister Stephanie, – they're twins! – they like to ride their horses at home and there was another girl, her name was Jessica. She can do flips and even cartwheels! Emmy said she likes to swim and Hanna says she likes to play with her American Girl doll. She says she can jump rope and she's gonna bring hers to school tomorrow to show Spence!"

"Who's that, sweetie?"

"Spencer? She's in Ms. Bridget's room with Aria. She's super tall and super smart. She can read books from the second grade! And she showed me how to go across the monkey bars at recess! Aria can draw really pretty, too. She even __drawed__ a picture of her brother. She says his name is Mike and he is 4 years old and in preschool. Aria is short, but Spence helped her reach the monkey bars."

"At recess, we played tag, I was it! Then we played house. Emmy and Hanna were the moms and me, Spencie and Aria were the kids! Emmy and Hannie made us a yummy chocolate cake and we ate it, then, after we played that, we played freeze tag. Then we watched Spencie go across the monkey bars. She's so good, she did three times in a row without falling!"

"Wow, it sounds like you had a great day. How many friends is that, 4? I'm very proud of you, sweetie."

"No, Nanny Mary, that's only 3 friends. Emily doesn't count as a new friend cause I met in the summer. But I made 3 new friends today. Their names are Hanna, her last name is Marin, Spencer, her last name is Hastings and she's got a big sister that is in third grade with Jason, and Aria Montgomery. I think we're gonna be bestest friends forever!"

"Wow! Well, maybe your new friends will be able to come over for a sleepover soon. How's that sound?"

"Awesome!"

After talking for a few more minutes, Alison runs upstairs to play with her toys, while Jason starts in on his day. It was the average first day of third; get to know you teacher, new students, put away your supplies, receive math and science workbooks, etc.

And last but not least, Courtney gets to tell of her day.

* * *

 **Let me know what you thought. I'm slowly introducing Alison's twin sister Courtney. If you have read the books, you know who I'm talking about. If not, well, Alison has a twin sister in the books.**

 **No, I won't have Courtney be the "crazy" one who is sent away and switches places with Alison or anything. She'll just be a normal little girl.**

 **Up Next: _Carving Pumpkins  
_** **Then: _Halloween_**


	5. Carving Pumpkins ('96)

**Updated on April 18th, 2017. Switched Alison/Courtney's age from 6 years old to 7 years old.**

* * *

 **Sorry guys. I meant to have this up about 20 minutes ago but I got sidetracked helping my mom carrying in groceries and then I had to help her take the polish off her toes since she can't do it without messing her fingernail polish up. XD**

* * *

 **Melissa: 8 years old (going on 9).  
Little Kids: 6-7 years old.**

* * *

 _ **October 26th, 1996**_

* * *

 _ ***Hastings household***_

"Ew! It's all slimy!" Hanna shrieks as she takes a handful of pumpkin guts. "It feels slimy and gross!" Then she giggles. "It's like I'm takin' all his guts out!"

"Emmy, put your hands in there!" Aria squeals. Emily sticks her hand in and pulls some seeds and guts out. The girls are over at Spencer's house. They have five pumpkins they are carving for Halloween next week. Melissa has hers already emptied of guts and seeds and has drawn the face that she wants carved and is now helping Spencer's with her.

"Ew! This is gross, sissy." Spencer says, plopping down a handful of goo.

"Just make sure you get it all," Mel says. "and then you can draw your face on."

"This is so icky!" Hanna complains again as she purposely squishes a handful of guts between her fingers. "It feels like I'm squishin' the _punkie_ 's brain!" She squeals and Spencer giggles.

"Yeah! Look, Mel! I'm squishing the pumpkin's brain!" She squeezes the handful between her fingers and holds it up to Melissa's face.

"Gross, Spence! Don't do that. Just put it in the bowl." The eight-year-old says and Spencer sticks her tongue out at her.

"You're no fun, sissy. Live a little, 'kay? Have some fun; you're only young once." She says and Mel raises an eyebrow at her little sister while Peter and Veronica try to not to show their laughter.

"This is so _gwoss_!" Aria makes a face while squeezing the guts and seeds between her finger. Her words are slurred due to her newly missing top tooth, and it's making her linger on the 's' sounds. "Look, _Sspencie_! It's _sslimy_!" She holds out the handful to Spencer who takes it and makes a face also.

"Daddy! Feel it! It's like a monster's slim!" Peter hesitantly walks over, taking the handful and squishing it in his hands as the girls watch closely, giggling at his face.

"Yep, that's slimy alright." He says and he plops it down in the bowl.

"What are you gonna draw, Ali?" Emily asks. She plops down another handful. "I'm going to draw a smilie face! It's gonna have eyes and a nose, a smile with teeth!"

"That's dumb! I'm gonna draw a scary. It's going to have mean eyes and pointy teeth."

"Now Alison," Veronica scolds. "That isn't very nice to say. If Em wants to have a smilie face on her pumpkin, that's perfectly fine. But I don't want to hear you calling anyone else's ideas dumb. That's mean and it might hurt Emmy's feeling. You don't want that, do you?"

"No, Aunt Veronica. I don't like it when Emmy is sad." Veronica nods along. She's beginning to understand that Alison is a sweetheart when you get to know her. Not many people get that chance and their first opinion of her, whether it be how she acts in supermarket or when she is at the park, is that she is a spoiled brat who is used to getting her way.

The girls' moms and dads, however, have gotten the chance to see her soft side. They've noticed she is very protective towards her friends, she enjoys marathoning princess movies like any other seven-year-old little girl, and playing tag or make-believe in the backyard, and that even when she is arguing with Spencer, her words hold no malice or threat, making it merely two kids arguing over something.

"I know you don't, and that why you need to try to think of how your words might make someone feel before you say them, okay? That way, you won't make any of your friends or anyone else sad. Do you understand?" She asks in a semi-stern voice to show she is trying to get Alison to _understand_ instead of just _listen_ to what she is saying. The little blonde nods and quickly apologizes to Emily.

"I'm sorry, Emmy. You can draw a smilie face if you want too. Maybe Uncle Peter will even cut out a tongue for you!"

"Yeah! Can you, Uncle Peter, can you? I want my smilie face to have a tongue!"

"Well, I sure can try," Peter tells the little girl. "Are you finished cleaning it out?"

"Yes. I gots all the guts and seeds and slimy stuff out." Emily tells him, sliding her pumpkin over to her friend's dad.

"Alrighty then, one smilie face with a tongue sticking out coming right up." Peter gets to work, and the other girls abandon their own pumpkin to watch in awe as Peter flawlessly cuts a smilie face with two eyes, a crooked nose, and a smile with the tongue out into the pumpkin.

"Wow, Daddy! That's so cool! Can you teach me how to do that too?" Spencer asks.

"Well, baby, I could, but you're just a tad bit too young. Tell you what, the Halloween that you are in 4th grade, and about to turn 10 years old, I'll teach you how to do it yourself. How does that sound?"

"Okay! I can't wait!"

Everyone works in silence fore few minutes, before Emily speaks up.

"I wish Court was here. I bet she would have lots of fun doin' this."

"Yeah," Alison agrees, because even though she fights with her sister a lot, she still loves her and hates that she had an upset tummy so she couldn't come over. "If that dumb kid had stayed up, my sissy wouldn't be sick right now." She frowns.

"Let's try to use a nicer word, Alison. If the little girl or boy came to school, it's probably because their parents sent them."

"But why would a kid come to school if they're sick?" Aria asks with her nose scrunched up. "My mamma keeps me home when I don't feel good. I can't even get out of bed and play with my toys! I hafta rest all day!"

"Well, sometimes parents make mistakes," Veronica chimes in, deciding not to reprimand Alison for using the word again. She kind of agrees, anyway. Why would a parent send their child to school if they were sick, especially one that was sick with the stomach bug?

"Let's just not think about it, okay?" She continues. "Let's finish our pumpkins so Uncle Peter can carve them."

After another five minutes everyone is finished.

Peter tells them to be thinking of what face they want as he begins with Spencer and Melissa's pumpkin. Mel does the traditional 'scary" face, while Spencer does one with a crooked smile.

"I want mine to have teeth!" Aria says and Hanna agrees. "Yeah, I want mine to have two teethes on top, and one on bottom." Peter goes around to each girl, giving "spooky" faces and "toothy" smile faces.

Eventually they get done, and Peter and Veronica clean the table of the "insides" and newspaper while the girls go wash their hands. When they get back downstairs, each girl gets beside their pumpkin and Veronica snaps a photo. Then they all gather around and get a group picture.

"Okay, now, we are going to go put these outside. Mel, Spence, you can take yours and show daddy where you want them. Alison, Emily, Hanna and Aria, do you want your pumpkin to be here, or do you want to take them home with you?"

"I want to take it home so I can show my mommy." Aria says.

"Yeah, I wanna show my mom and I can show daddy when he skypes us tomorrow night!" Emily says excitedly.

"I wanna leave mine here 'cause mamma is going to let me and Luke carve pumpkins at home!" Hanna smiles.

"Okay, well, do you need help carrying yours outside?"

"No, it's small so I can do it by myself!" The little blonde carefully picks up her semi-small pumpkin and meets Peter at the door where he takes it so she can show him where she wants to put it.

"Alison, what about you? Do you want to take your pumpkin home?"

"Yeah, I guess." She shrugs because she knows that only nanny Mary decorates the house and her mom and dad probably won't care about her pumpkin. Mary does some decorating inside, putting lights up and sticky spiders on the windows. She puts creepy signs up that look like gravestones in the front yard and tries her best to give Jason, Alison, and Courtney a good Halloween.

"Okay, well, tomorrow, you can ask Uncle Peter to help you carry it home, okay? I bet Nanny Mary would love to see it." She tells her and Alison nods. "Now, why don't you girls go change clothes, and then you can go out to the barn and play?"

The kids cheer and race each other upstairs (with Veronica reminding them not to run on the stairs), before they race each other out to the barn. Melissa goes too, so she can keep an eye on them and watch the movie she had started earlier.

* * *

 **There you go. A short and sweet chapter about carving pumpkins.**

 **What I need from you guys, is a Hangout-Day request. These are somewhat kind guidelines:**

 **Up next:** ** _Happy Halloween_ \- The kids go trick or treating.** **  
** **Then:** ** _Spanna Day_** **requested by** ** _Emilie2601_.**


	6. Happy Halloween ('96)

**Here's the next chapter. I went ahead and decided that they would go trick-or-treating on the Sunday before Halloween because Halloween fell on a Wednesday in this year.**

 **Costume credit goes to _Emilie2601_.**

 **Enjoy. :)**

* * *

 _ **October 27th, 1996**_

* * *

 _ ***Hastings Household***_

The next day, around 5:00 p.m. the moms, dads and little girls (plus Mike and Lucas) gather back at Spencer's house to dress up. They've decided to hit the houses early since all the kids are under 10 and get tired very quickly, even Mel and the older kids.

"Mommy, Mommy!" Ella hears Mike squeal as he bounces down the staircase. She smiles at him all dressed up. He's going as a puppy dog this year. Mike has on a brown one-piece puppy costume. It has a tail on the back and little glove that attach to the sleeves and cover his hands. They look like little "paws" when pulled over his tiny little hands.

"Mommy, look what Aunt 'Ronica did!" He points to his face, where Veronica has painted his nose black with some freckles across his cheeks and nose. "And lookie!" He pulls up the hood of his costume. The little brown, floppy ears on top complete the costume.

"Wow! I wonder where my baby boy, Mike, went? All I see is this nice little puppy. What is your name, puppy dog?" She asks playfully.

"I'm not really a puppy, Mamma!" Mike grins. "It's me! Michael Vincent Montgom'ry!"

"Oh! That's right. Silly me! Why don't you come over here and you can show me how good you are at being a puppy?" She picks up her camera and takes some pictures before deciding to wait for Aria to get done, so she can get some of both of them

Aria bounds down the stairs next. Her costume is handmade. She is going as an artist this year. Ashley and Veronica surprised her with a blank, white apron and little artist hat earlier. They bought a bunch of fabric markers, glitter glue, and other art accessories.

Aria decorated her apron with the markers. The little artist drew a landscape that has flowers on it, a hill with a house atop it and her family and friends playing on the swing set, slides and monkey bars. Across the top, her name is written in a pretty blue glitter glue. She asked Mel to write it for her because she is learning cursive in 3rd grade and is already pretty good at it.

The reason Aria stayed upstairs was so Veronica could help her paint her hands. She then had the little first-grader wipe the paint off onto the apron to make it look as if she realistically just got done painting. She then dabbed the excess paint off with a towel, still leaving some on her hands. Next, Veronica got a toothbrush, dipped it in the paint, and ran her thumb across the bristles sending specks of paint onto Aria's face. She also decided to let Aria wear her paint-stained sweatpants from earlier.

Now, Aria looks like a real artist.

"Mamma, look at me! Whatd'ya think?" She spins around, showing Ella her apron and little artist's hat.

"Oh, my." Ella says. "Aria, baby, you look beautiful. Byron, honey, look at our little artist." Byron smiles his daughter.

"You do look very pretty, baby girl. I think you chose a wonderful costume to dress up in." Aria beams at that. Spencer and Melissa come down next.

"Uncle Byron, Uncle Tom! Auntie Ash, Aunt Ella, look at us!" Mel exclaims excitedly. "We match!"

Spencer is dressed as a nurse. She has on a nurse hat/coat combination. She has a clipboard with a piece of paper and pen attached to her with a safety pin. This will act as a patient "chart". Mel has on a Doctor's coat with scrubs underneath and a cute little blue "scrub cap". She has a stethoscope, reflex checker, eye light and tongue depressor in a little doctor's kit that slips into her pocket. On the pocket of her coat by her shoulder, she has an ink pen and a light pen along with her name "Dr. Melissa Hastings" sewed onto it.

"Wow! Look at that! We have very own doctor _and_ nurse." Ashley says as she grins. "I guess we know who to call when we feel sick. What are your names, doctor and nurse?"

"My name is Nurse Spencer!" Spencer says proudly. "And sissy's name is Doctor Hastings."

"Well, hello, Nurse Spencer and Doctor Hastings." She says, "I'll be sure to give you a call"

"Okay!" The girls grin and go about tickling Mike to get to smile while Ella takes a picture of them with Aria and the little boy. Emily and Hanna get done next. They also match, with Hanna is cloak and cape dressed as Little Red Riding Hood and Emily in a grey one-piece that looks close to Mike's costume, except hers is in the design of the Big Bad Wolf.

Alison and Courtney are dressed alike also. Alison is going as the Wicked Witch of the West, and Court is Glenda the Good Witch.

"You girls look beautiful!" Ella says to Courtney and Alison as they walk down the stairs "Wow, you guys did a good job picking those costumes out, girls."

"Thanks, Auntie Ella," Courtney says shyly. "I liked Glenda 'cause she's the good witch and she isn't mean to Dorothy."

"Well, I like Glenda, too," Ella agrees. "So, I especially like your costume."

"Hey! What about me?" Alison says with her hands on her hips. When Ella turns to address the little girl, Courtney rolls her eyes. She can't even have one night without her sister vying for everyone's attention.

Courtney huffs and Alison looks over at her. She sees her sister going to where Melissa is showing the others the things in her doctor's it. She places her hands on her hips and adopts the famous "Alison-Sass-Face".

"What?" Alison says, knowing her sister will know what she is talking about.

"Nothing, Alison. Just…you don't always hafta get the attention." Courtney turns away then, remembering what their Nanny Mary said: 'no fighting tonight, girls, or you won't have any TV time for the week.'

"Well, maybe if you didn't try to better all the time, then I would get attention." Alison sasses.

Courtney whirls around at that and looks right at Alison, pushing what Mary told them out of her mind as she says, "I don't! You're the one that came down and had to have Auntie Ella look at you! All she said was that she liked my costume, but you didn't like that she was looking at mine first and not yours and so you had to butt in!"

"Yeah, well, Auntie Ella still likes my costume the most!" Alison says back.

"No, she doesn't! 'Cause Auntie Ella is nice and she always gives equals." Courtney tells her, referring to when Ella had said she doesn't have a favorite and that she likes each child the same amount.

"Alright, girls, that enough!" Ella says, breaking the girls up. "Alison, Courtney is right. I was just admiring her costume first, _but_ I was getting to you. I like both your costumes the same because they are both very pretty. You have to learn to share a person's attention, sweetie, because you can't always have all of it."

"Now, we are going to split into two groups. Group one has Aunt Ashley, Aunt Veronica and Uncle Peter, and group two has Uncle Byron, me and Aunt Pam. Please gather around in the group you want to go in."

Aria, Melissa and Spencer gather around with Lucas in group one. Group two has Emily and Hanna, Mike and Alison and Court.

Luke is going as a Zombie. He has a shirt and pants combo that are torn and ripped, and stained with "blood". His face has been painted so it looks scarred and has pieces of "rotting" flesh on it

After everyone is dressed, the kids gather around for pictures. They get combo pictures, Emily & Hanna, Spence & Mel, Aria & Mike, then group pictures, all girls and both boys, etc. before they finally decide they have enough and head out.

* * *

They go a couple of rounds through the neighborhood. First is a stop at an older couple's house. They've gone all-out with the decorations, several Jack-o'-Lanterns and lights.

"Trick or trick!" The girls yell as soon as the door and the older lady smiles. She hands out the candy as she says,

"Well, what do we have here? An artist, oh and Little Red Riding Hood with the Wolf. I see the Wicked Witch and Glenda the Good Witch." She smiles down at the youngest of the group. "And who do we have here?"

"I'm'ma puppy!" Mike says. "Arf, arf, arf!"

"Well! You make a _very_ handsome puppy."

"What do you say, girls, Mikey?" Ella gently reminds them.

"Thank you!" They chorus and Mike gives another 'arf' before turning and jumping down the stairs. They go around to a couple more houses before they arrive at Isabella's house. Her mom took her out, but her older brother, Jackson, who is 6th grade, and deemed himself "too old" to trick or treat, is handing out candy.

"Hi, Jack!" Hanna says, grinning. "Trick or treat!" She holds out the pink pumpkin pail. The others follow through, "Trick or treat!"

"Hello, Hanna. Hi, Emily, Court, Ali…Happy Halloween." He smiles back and hands out the Reese's and mini Snickers bars. "Here you go."

"Thank you, Jackson!" They turn and run back to the grown-ups.

"Aunt Ella, can we go to Mr. Smith's house?" Emily asks quietly. She hasn't quite gotten used to being around the other parents without her mom, and so she is a little bit shy.

"Sure, sweetie. We can stop at the houses on the way there, and then meet up with the others." They come across a few house with older couples with grandchildren, or young couples who don't yet haved any kids.

"Okay, girls, Mike, Uncle Byron, Uncle Peter and I are going to stand right here. You can split up and go to these two houses, but I want you to come right back, okay?" Ella instructs as they come to two houses beside each other.

"Okay!" The group split up, Hanna, Emily and Mike going to the house on the left and Alison and Court going to the right. Mike decides to go with Hanna and Emily, because even though Alison doesn't tease him in front of his mom, he still doesn't like her.

"Trick or treat!" Hanna and Emily yell when the door opens.

"Well, well! What do we have here? Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. Oh, and a cute little puppy. You guys are so adorable!" The little old man says. "Here you go." He hands some tootsie rolls, M&Ms and Smarties.

"Thank you!" Emily grins. She nudges Mike in the shoulder and whispers, "Mikey, say thank you." She frowns when he responds with 'arf, arf.' "No, Mikey. Say thank you."

He huffs and sags his shoulders dramatically, "Thank you, Mister." The old man chuckles.

"You're welcome, kids. Now run along and have a happy Halloween." The girls and Mike run back to the adults.

* * *

 ** _*with group one*_**

"Mama, can we stop at Conner's house" Melissa asks. When she's in a good mood, she resorts back to calling her parents 'mama' and 'daddy', and it always makes Veronica and Peter smile.

"Sure, sweetie. Let's go." They arrive a few minutes later. "Trick or treat!"

Conner's dad smiles at the kids and hands them all Snickers, M&Ms, skittles and Smarties. "Happy Halloween girls…and boys. I see we have some very pretty ladybugs, a butterfly. I see a doctor and nurse…here you kids go. Have a happy Halloween."

"Thank you!" Down the pathway and over to the next house they go. "Trick or treat!" It's a different set of kids that shout it, and the girls and Luke have to wait for them to clear out before they get the candy.

"Mom, can we go to some houses I wanna go to?" Lucas asks when they get back to the grownups. Ashley nods and points ahead.

"Yes, we can. Lead the way, but don't go too far." Luke leads them to one of his friend's houses. "Trick or treat!" He growls out in a "zombie" voice. "Happy Halloween!"

"Well, well, well. Happy Halloween, kids. You guys look very pretty," The woman takes a glance at Luke and smiles. "And very scary. Here you kids go. Have a happy Halloween."

"Thank you!" They run off and down the pathway.

"Oh! I see Amanda's house! I bet her baby sister is home with their aunt!" Spencer says excitedly. "Can we go see them, please? Please, Mamma, can we?" Veronica nods and she cheers.

"Yes! Come on, Ari!" She turns to her other half and grins. "We can go see the haunted house!" Veronica pauses, realizing where she's heard the name Amanda from before. It was the house that was the neighborhood's "Haunted House" last year. It's a big two-story house, and the inside is lite up with nothing but strings of lights, and each room was something different.

"Wait a minute, girls," She says and the kids all stop and look at her. "Why don't we wait, go to the houses on the way there, and then we can call the others and have them meet us there. While we wait on them, you can go across the street and trick or treat, then we'll all go to the haunted house and that can be the last stop. We need to be getting home in about an hour because it's a school night and we all have to get up early in the morning."

"Okay!" The kids run a little bit ahead while the parents walk behind them and talk. They come across three houses on the way to the "Haunted House" and the little girls and Luke run up to it.

This time, it's them in front of another group and they get to say "Trick or treat!" first.

"Well! Look at all the beautiful kids out tonight." An older lady says. She looks to be in her 60s or 70s, and turns to her husband who has brought a bowl of candy. "Look, Charles, don't they remind you of Mary and the kids?" The older man smiles. "Yes, they sure do. Here you kiddies go. Have a happy Halloween."

"Thanks, Mister!" Spencer smiles. "Happy Halloween!" They run off to the adults and finish with the last few houses. They go across the street, while Veronica gets in touch with the other group and then the kids go through their candy while they wait.

"Mama, look! I got a pumpkin shaped lollipop and lots of tootsie rolls." Mel says, grinning. "Who's gonna watch our buckets? Are we going to be bring them inside the Haunted House with us?"

"We'll have daddy watch the buckets. I think the adults will stay out here, unless you want us to come with you?"

"No," Mel answers, absentmindedly digging through her pumpkin pail. "We're big girls; we don't need you to come. right, Spence?" The first-grader nods eagerly.

"Yeah, Mamma. We're big girls. We don't need you and daddy." The girls wait a few more minutes before the others show up. Byron decides to go in with Mike but ends up only staying a few minutes before the poor little guy gets the crap scared out of him.

The girls, however, seem to really be into it. They go through a couple of rooms before coming to one that is the "mirror room". It has dozens of mirrors, big, small, short, tall, long, wide. They all have a crack in them. All in the same place.

"Woah! This is so cool!" Spencer says as she walks around and looks at the mirrors.

The girls and Luke move to another room. They pass through what is the witch's "kitchen". It has a table with a giant caldron on it. Beside that are "spices" and "ingredients". Melissa reads off some of the labels.

"This one says 'toad's foot' and that one there says 'bat wings'." Mel points to a shelf behind the table that is covered in dust and cobwebs. "Look over there! It has more spices. There a jar of spider webs, and a jar of 'eye of newts'." The kids look around for a little more before moving to the next room.

They come across a room with hardwood floors. As they move through the room, they realize heat is coming up from between the boards. The entire room smells of brimstone.

In another room, there is path through it. On either sides of the path, dirt covers the floor. They are spooky Jack-O'-Lanterns, and headstones scattered around the room. Some have dates on them as far back as the 20s, while others have Frankenstein, Dracula and others' names on them.

"Come on, guys!" Luke calls out. "Let's go in here!" He points to a room where dozens of candle light the room in a red glow.

"This is so cool!" Emily says as she and follow the older blonde into the room. "Look! The candles go out when you walk inside!" She points to the candles that are being extinguished with each step. They come across a few more rooms before they reach a spot that's not noisy and Emily hears a sound from the corner of the room they've just entered.

She looks around with her flashlight and notices a little girl in the corner. She gets closer and realizes it's actually a toddler, no older than 2, wearing a cat costume with whiskers.

She walks closer and bends down. As she shines her light on the little girl, she notices she has impossibly blue eyes highlighted by freckles that are sprinkled on her nose and cheeks. The tips of her blonde hair barely reach her shoulders and is held back by a black headband with cat hears.

"Hi, my name is Emily, what's yours?" The little blonde shrugs and covers her face with her hands. Spencer notices Emily talking to the corner and walks up. She bends down and notices the little girl.

"Hi, what's your name?" She asks, but she gets the same response.

"Maybe she doesn't speak English." Emily says. Then she has an idea. "Hey, I know! I'll ask her in Spanish! ¿Hola Cómo te llamas?" _Hello, what is your name?_

The only response they receive is the little girl peeking through her fingers. Spencer tries next, this time speaking in French. "Salut! Quel est ton nom?" _Hi! What's your name?_

The little girl lowers her hand and replies with a choppy, "Amor." Because she remembers her daddy calling her that all the time, and she's scared and can't remember her actual name.

Spencer looks to Emily who tells her, "She said "Love". But why would she say that?"

"Maybe it's a nickname! Like you're Emmy and I'm Spence!" She thinks for a moment and then says, "Okay, _Amor_ , did you lose your mommy and daddy?" The little girl nods. "Okay, come on. Let's go find your mommy and daddy." By then, Melissa has come over. She convinced Luke to go to the adults with Hanna, Aria, Court and Ali and tell them they found a little girl who is lost.

"Spence, let me pick her up. We can take her outside to Mama and Daddy." Spencer nods and moves to the side. Mel picks the little girl up, noticing that she is awfully tiny. They make their way outside, the little blonde hanging onto Mel's neck with one arm and the other hand's thumb in her mouth. They go over and find the adults.

"Mommy!" Emily shouts, running over. "Look! We _founded_ a little girl that's lost! She doesn't know her name, -she said she's ' _Amor_ ' and Spence says it a nickname. She looks really scared and little, Mamma. What'd we do?"

"We're looking for her mommy and daddy right now, sweetie. But you guys did good. You got her out and it looks like she's comfortable with you. I'm proud of you for helping her, sweetheart."

"Yeah, Mamma, she was scared so I asked'er her name – in Spanish! But she didn't say nothing. Then Spence asked'er her name in French! She said her name was ' _Amor_ '. We think it's a nickname. Do you think it's a nickname, Mamma?"

"Yeah, it probably is a nickname, sweetie. Oh, look. There's her parents." Pam points to a couple who's running towards them. She recognizes the panicked look in their eyes.

"Oh, -. Come here, baby. What has Mamma told you about running off, huh? Come to mommy and daddy, baby." The little blonde wriggles out of Melissa's arms and runs over to the couple.

"Mama! Dada!" They hug her and then thank Emily, Spencer and Melissa for finding her and bringing her out.

"-, give Spencer, Emily and Melissa a hug for helping you. Say thank you, baby."

" _Tank 'ou_." The little girl hugs them. At the last second, Spencer pulls her back, making sure to memorize the way her eyes look like the bluest eyes she's ever seen and how her freckles make her look that much more adorable just in case she ever sees this little girl again. Then she whispers,

" _Mon nom est Spence. Ceci est Emmy, Ari, et Hanna. Au revoir mon amour._ " _My name is Spence. This is Emmy, Ari, and Hanna. Goodbye, love._

After the couple walks off with their little girl, the adults decide the kids have had enough excitement for one night and gather them up to take them home.

All in all, they've had a pretty good first Halloween together, and they got to help a scared and lost little girl find her mommy and daddy, so it was a pretty good night for all of them. Even Lucas who was dragged along with his baby sister and her friends.

* * *

 **Here you guys go! Technically, it's November 1st, and Halloween ended approx. 14 minutes ago, but Happy (late) Halloween! Don't forget to review! :)**

 **Did you like the kids' costumes?**

 **What about the Haunted House?**

 **Did you know who the lost toddler was?**

 ** _Next Up: Spanna's hangout day_ \- Spencer and Hanna spend the day at the mall.**


	7. Spanna (1)

**Prompt from _Emilie2601._ She wanted a Spanna hangout day shopping at the mall.**

 **Note: Technically, the Disney movie 101 Dalmatians came out on** **Nov. 27th, '96. For the sake of this story, though, it came out on Nov. 9th, instead.**

* * *

 **Reply to reviews (chapt 1-3):**

 **SethuEmaya: I'm glad you're enjoying all of my stories so far! Here's the next chapter; enjoy! :)**

 **Leapyearbaby29: Yes! I can definitely do that one. I may do it a little bit like the show, where she comes out during the storm at school, although, Alison will be there also. :)**

 **Boris Yeltsin: Here's the next chapter. Enjoy! :)**

 **Guest (1): Yes, I'll make a chapter of that. Do you have a preferred age for the girls, or would you like me to pick?**

* * *

 **Hanna: 6 years old (going on 7).  
Spencer: 6 years old.**

* * *

 _ **Saturday, Nov. 9th, 1996**_

* * *

 _ ***Hastings household 7:00 a.m.***_

"Mommy, Daddy!" Spencer yells as she comes running into her parents' bedroom and jumps on the bed. "Wake up! It's mine and Hannie's Spanna Day!" Peter sits up, taking his youngest into his arms and squeezing her in a hug.

"It sure is, baby girl. Why don't we let mommy sleep for a little bit longer, and you and me can go make some breakfast. How does that sound?"

"Good! I want chocolate chip pancakes, please!"

"All right, go on ahead and I'll be there in a sec." Spencer cheers and runs out of the room, down the stairs and to the kitchen. Peter comes a few minutes later, getting the pancake batter and other ingredients out. Right as he is flipping the third one on the stove, Mel comes downstairs, yawing and rubbing her eyes.

"Morning, Daddy. Good morning, Spence." She greets her father and sister, as she climbs onto a bar stool. Her sister happily waves back as her mouth is currently full of pancake.

"Good morning, sweetie. Would you like a chocolate chip pancake?"

"Yes, please." Peter sits a plate down in front of her along with the traditional Hastings breakfast beverage: chocolate milk. "When am I going to see Auntie Ashley and Luke?" She asks a few minutes later.

"Well, Mommy and I need to get our showers and get dressed, and Spence needs to brush her teeth, hair, and get dressed also. You'll need to change into a sweat-suit, -I think Momma laid one out last night-, and brush your teeth also. Why don't you girls get ready after breakfast, so you can watch cartons while Mommy and I are getting ready?"

"Okay, Dad. I just want to wear my hair down so Mommy doesn't have to pull it up."

"That's fine, sweetie. Just be sure to tell Mommy that, okay?" Mel nods and the two girls finish breakfast before heading to their shared bathroom. Melissa helped Spence brush her hair, tying it back in a braid that she has just learned to do, and then the girls get dressed and make faces in mirror while brushing their teeth. They head back downstairs to watch cartoons until their parents are also ready to go.

* * *

 _ **Later that morning. 10:00 a.m.**_

* * *

 _ ***Franklin Mills Mall***_

After dropping Mel off and picking Hanna up at the Marins', the two first-graders played I Spy all the way to the mall. Now, they are here at the Franklin Mills Mall. They've decided to window shop for a good while, before heading to their first real stop: The Hope Animal Kingdom, which is a pet shop that has kittens, puppies, all kind of birds, Guinea pigs, hamsters, and even snakes and spiders in a special "Reptile" room.

"All right, girls. We can go in and play with the puppies and kittens for about 15 minutes. Then we can go get a snack at the Café. Sound good?" Veronica asks, knowing if given the opportunity, the girls would stay there all day.

"Okay, Auntie 'Ronica! Come on, Spence! Let's go play with the puppies!" Peter and Veronica let the two girls go over to the puppy cages while they follow behind.

Spencer and Hanna look at all the dogs and little puppies, some cages having two or three, or up to four puppies from their own litter. They immediately stop at the last cage. It has a tiny dog in it, a female Golden Retriever. A sales person comes up and smiles at the two first-graders.

"Hello, girls. My name is Annie." She introduces herself. "Do you girls see something you like?" She asks the two girls

"Hi! My name is Spencer and this is my best friend, Hanna!" Spencer introduces them before politely answering, "And, yes, ma'am. We like her!" She points to lone little puppy in her cage. "She's so pretty…and tiny. Is she a really young puppy?"

"No, actually, she is the runt of her litter." Annie tells them, bending down to their height and reaching out for the little puppy who playfully stands on her hind legs and licks Annie's hand.

"What's a runt?" Hanna asks.

"It means she was the smallest of all her brothers and sisters." Spencer replies before Annie can.

"That's absolutely right. You are very smart, young lady."

"Oh," Hanna frowns. "but where are her brothers and sisters?"

"Well, because she is the runt, people took home all her brothers and sisters, and left her here all alone. No one has come by that wants a runt, yet."

"Oh, that's sad." Hanna says softly. "Everyone deserves to be loved, even if you are smaller than everyone else!"

"That's right."

"What's her name, Miss Annie?" Spencer asks.

"Her name is Daisy. Would you girls like to play her?"

"Oh, I like that name," Hanna grins at Spencer. "It's pretty!"

"We have to ask my mom and dad." Spencer says, turning and going over to them. "Mom, Daddy, can Hanna and I play with the puppy?"

"Sure, sweetie,' Veronica answers as Peter goes to stand up. "Daddy is going to go with ya'll, okay? And I will stay right here."

"Okay, Mom. Come on, Daddy, let's go play with the puppy!" Peter walks over to the cage where Annie unlocks the door, clips a leash on the puppy, and then hands it to Peter.

"If you'd like, you can take Daisy to one of our play rooms. It's 10 dollars for 15 minutes of play, 20 dollars for 25 minutes, or 45 dollars for 1 hour, and 10 addition dollars for any added minutes after that."

"Oh, can we, Daddy? Can we, please?" Spencer begs and Peter nods.

"Yes, go tell Mommy we need $10. Then come right back over, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy!" While Spencer goes to get the money, Annie shows Peter and Hanna the playroom they will use. It's a fairly large open room, with a basket of dog toys to play, of course, fetch with, along with some hula-hoops, that Daisy can jump through for some treats.

"Wow!" Hanna says, eyes wide in amazement. "This is so cool! Look, Uncle Peter!" She points to a basket "They have toys so we can play fetch! Can you let Daisy off the leash? I wanna see if she can fetch it"

Peter takes Daisy off her leash, the little Golden Retriever wagging her tail at him. Hanna calls to her and she obediently sits, waiting for her companion to throw her toy.

Hanna throws it and yells, "Fetch, Daisy!" Just as Spencer and Veronica are coming in.

"Annie says the timer has been set for 15 minutes, just the right amount of time for us," She informs Peter. "And who is this precious little thing?" She asks as Daisy runs up, drops the rope-bone and sits, waiting for her to throw it.

"That's Daisy, Mommy! She was the runt of her family, so she's all alone in her cage 'cause no one wants to take a runt home, so they took all her brothers and sisters, instead."

"Aunt 'Ronica, watch!" Hanna calls. "Daisy, bring me your rope-bone!" And Daisy immediately does. "Now, sit, Daisy…good girl! Go get it!" She yells after throwing the toy, and watches as the tiny Golden Retriever runs after it.

"Oh, wow! They've got her trained well," Veronica comments. She bends down and whistles, "Here, Daisy…here girl…you're a good girl, are you, Daisy? Yes, I bet you are. I don't know why anyone wouldn't want you…you're just so precious." Daisy rolls over and lets Veronica rub her belly.

"Daddy!" Spencer calls. "Do you wanna throw the toy now?"

"Sure, baby. What do I do?" He asks, even though he knows, but likes to see Spencer smile when she's the "teacher" for things like this.

"You have to tell her sit, Daddy. Say, 'Sit, Daisy,'. Then tell her 'Good girl,' when she does it!"

"Oh, okay. Here, Daisy. Hi there, girl. Can you sit? Sit, Daisy…good girl! Okay, now what do I do?"

"You tell her to stay, Uncle Peter!" Hanna chimes in. "Then you throw the toy, say, 'stay, Daisy', and give her a treat when she does. Then you throw the toy, and say, 'fetch, Daisy!' and then you give her another treat when she brings it back!"

"Okay, I think I got it…stay, Daisy, stay girl…Good girl! Now, stay, Daisy." He throws the toy and although she watches it, she just looks back at Peter. "Good girl, Daisy!" He praises.

"Here's a treat, Uncle Peter!"

"Thank you, Hanna. Here you go, Daisy. Good girl. Now, fetch the toy! Go get the toy, Daisy."

As Daisy runs off, Hanna and Spencer cheer. "Yay! Good girl, Daisy!" Spencer cheers as Daisy drops the toy.

"Daisy…Daisy, go to Spencer!" Hanna calls from one side of the room She points to Spencer who you can see through the two hula-hoops that are attached to a string hanging from the ceiling and are a few inches off the ground.

"Daisy, come to me! Come to me, girl!" Spencer calls. The girls watch in amazement as Daisy runs across the room, jumps through both hoops, and then dashes over to Spencer who falls backwards when Daisy jumps in her lap.

"Yay, good girl, Daisy! Here's your treat, girl. Here you go." Daisy gobbles down the treat and then gives a soft woof like she's asking Spencer what she should do next. "Come on, Daisy! Let's see if you can do the stairs. I'll race you and Hanna-Banana!"

The girls run over to the tiny staircase with Daisy following them. She gives another ' _woof_ '' as they split up, and go to opposite sides. "Come on, Daisy! Come to me!" Hanna calls. However, Daisy just sits there, looking confused. "Aw, why won't she come to me?"

Across the room, Peter and Veronica have been watching the three play. They're amazed at what the little pup can do, and the pet shop seems to have worked with her long enough that she obeys each command the first time she is asked. However, Peter notices that she doesn't go to Hanna as asked and wonders if she doesn't know what to do, or if the problem could be that she hasn't yet learned to do it without the leash. He decides to test this theory as he grabs it from it hanging place on his chair.

"I think I'm going to see if I can help them." He tells his wife before going over to the two first-graders and the little pup. "Hey, girls, why don't we try this trick with the leash, huh? She might not be able to do this one without it.

"Hey there, girl. Why don't we try it with the leash, huh? I bet you're a smart little puppy and you can do this trick very easily." He clips the leash on and click his tongue. "Come on, girl! Let's go to Hanna, come on." She goes up, over, and down the stairs and then jumps on Hanna and begins licking her face.

"Good girl, Daisy! Now go to Spencer! Go to Spence, girl!" Peter clicks his tongue again, and off they go. Spencer get the same treatment as Hanna: a slobbery kiss to the face. "Good girl, Daisy!"

The girls play for the remainder of the time, and then they say goodbye to Daisy, getting lots of puppy kisses, before she's brought back to her cage and the group does some more "window shopping" before going over to the café for a snake/lunch.

* * *

 _ ***Around 10:45 a.m. "Orange Entrance" Subway***_

"Okay, girls, be thinking of what you want to eat. Do you know what you're going to want to drink, yet?" Veronica asks as they enter the Subway restaurant. There's Christmas decorations around the room, and some Christmas music playing lightly over the speakers.

"I want some hot chocolate, Aunt 'Ronica." Hanna answers.

"Yeah, I want some, too, Mom. We know what we want, can we go order?"

"Yes, you may. Daddy and I are going to go find a table. Come right back to us when you're finished, okay?" Veronica gives Spencer some money and instructs her to keep it in her pocket until they need it to pay.

"Okay!" While the girls go to the counter, Peter and Veronica look for a table where they can sit, but still keep on them.

"Come on, Hannie! Let's go get out sandwiches. Do you know what you want?"

"Umm…I dunno," She shrugs. "What're you gettin'?"

"Uh…I want lots of tomatoes and pickles on my sandwich! I'm gonna get turkey and cheese, too."

"Um…I want turkey and cheese, too, but not pickles or tomatoes. I dunno what else to get."

"You could get turkey, cheese, and pepperoni! That's what Mel gets, and she says its really yummy!"

"Okay, I guess I'll get that." After the girls order and go sit down, Peter goes back up to the counter to get his and Veronica's sandwiches along with two coffees and two hot chocolates.

"Here you go…two hot chocolates, with extra whip cream and sprinkles." Peter says as he sits the down. "Be careful, now. They're going to be very hot, so be sure to blow on them."

"Okay, Daddy. Thank you." As the four dig in, Veronica asks Hanna what kind of sandwich she got, not knowing what the little blonde likes on her sandwich.

"I got turkey, cheese, and pepperoni! It's really yummy!"

"Really? That's what Melissa likes to get. I'm glad you like it." The four take about 20 minutes to eat, talking about what they are going to do for the rest of their trip, and how cool it was that Daisy knew all the tricks she did.

When they are finished, they head decide to walk around for another 45 minutes or so, before heading over to Santa's Workshop to make homemade ornament while they wait for Santa to get back from his own lunch break.

* * *

 _ ***Santa's Workshop. 12:15 p.m.***_

"All right, guys. We need to find a table and sit down at it. That nice lady over there just said that the next lesson is at 12:30, so if you want, Hanna we can call your mom and you can talk to her for a few minutes, or Daddy can sit here while I take you guys to find a bathroom, and then we can come back and get ready to make your ornaments and cookies."

"Okay, Momma! I want to the bathroom. Hannie, do you wanna come, too?"

"Yeah, I guess," She shrugs. "But, Aunt 'Ronica, can I still call my mommy when I get back?"

"Sure, sweetie. If we get back in time, you can."

"Okay. Come on! We gotta go fast so I can call my mommy."

"All right, go on. I'm right behind you guys." For the next twenty minutes, Peter watches as various people come and go. The tables in the room start filling up with kids of all ages. Before Veronica gets back, their table gains two more guests: 15-year-old Katelyn and her 4-year-old sister, Madison.

Veronica gets back just in time for Hanna to have a brief conversation about her day, and for Spencer to talk to Melissa and tell her all about the puppy dog she and Hanna played with. With a quick hello to her mom and dad, Mel says goodbye with the promise that Veronica brings her a cookie home to eat.

They quickly hit it off with Madi, and spend the remainder of the time talking about only stuff a little kid would know about. Finally, the clock strikes 12:30, and the lady, who introduces herself as Ms. Linda, tells the families to divide up, and then goes on with what the instructions are.

Veronica takes Spencer over to the ornament making table, while Hanna and Peter stay on the cookie-decorating side. Each table gets a good sized portion of dough, dough rollers, and a piece of wax paper to keep the tables clean, and it is a requirement that everyone wash their hands so there is a limited number of germs that are spread around.

Hanna goes to get some cookies cutters, and Peter divides them up between them and Katelyn. They work hard to make their five cookies; two snowmen, two Christmas trees, and one present-shaped cookie.

Over with Veronica, Spencer girls are making reindeer and Christmas tree ornaments with buttons and popsicle sticks. They already have the reindeer done. It's a piece of construction paper cut into a little triangle and three popsicle sticks lining the edges. Then two googly eyes in the middle of the paper, some pipe cleaner twisted to look like antlers, and a red pompom for the nose to make it look like Rudolph.

Now they are working on the Christmas tree. Veronica helps Spencer start the project and then lets her finish.

"Spence, would you like me to pick you out some buttons?" Veronica asks

"Yes, please! Can I have red, blue, and purple ones? And can I make sissy one, too?"

"Sure. You can make hers while we're waiting for yours to dry. Here are your buttons." She hands Spencer a handful of blue, red, and purple buttons.

By the time 1:00 p.m. rolls around, Spencer has two trees done; her own tree of blue, red and purple, and one for Melissa that has a pattern of red and orange.

While they wait for the cookies to bake and cool, Veronica and Peter gather the girls and take them over to the line where Santa is. And while they wait, they play a game of I Spy. They even include Katelyn, her sister, and some other kids in the line.

Finally, it's their turn for pictures. They bounce up to the front and both climb onto Santa's lap.

"Ho, ho, ho. And what are your names?" Santa asks.

The girls beam. "My name is Spencer Hastings! And this is my best friend, Hanna Marin!" Spencer says happily

"Well, hello Spencer and Hanna. Have you girls been good this year?"

"Yes! I've done all my homework, and I didn't fight with my big sister." Spencer tells him.

"Yeah! And my Mommy and Daddy have only had to tell me to pick up my toys three times." Hanna whispers the next part. "But that's 'cause it was summertime, and I was excited to go my Nana and Papa's house!"

"Oh, well, I think I can overlook that this time. Tell me, Hanna and Spencer, how old are you girls?"

"We're six years old, but I turn 7 next month!"

"Wow! You're both big girls, then. Why don't you give the camera a big smile, and then you can tell me what you would like for Christmas. Okay?"

"'Kay!" The girls pose for the camera and then turn back to him.

"And what would you girls like for Christmas this year?"

"Um…I want some spy equipment!" Spencer says. "With some goggles that let you see in the dark, and a video camera to record the person you're spyin' on. And also a special pen that writes with invisible ink and a light that is also special and is the only thing that shows what you have written!"

"And what about you, Hanna?"

"Hmm…" Hanna taps her chin thoughtfully. "I want a…I'm getting' an American Girl Doll for my birthday. Can you bring me some clothes for her? And a bed, too, please? I'll need some pjs, a hair brush, and a toothbrush and toothpaste so she doesn't get cavities, too."

"But you don't hafta bring me _all_ of that." She adds as an afterthought.

"Well, alright. I'll see what I can do." He smiles at the girls. "Anything else?"

"Oh, yes!" Spencer perks up. "This one is a secret. It's for us and our friends, Emily, Aria, Alison and Courtney, - they're twins -, and my big sister Melissa. Can you get us a puppy for Christmas, please? You won't even hafta go far. She's here in the mall, at the Hope Animal Kingdom pet shop. Her name is Daisy."

Santa nods and promises them a puppy. After receiving a candy cane, the girls happily follow Peter and Veronica back to their table where the cookies have been laid out. Spencer and Hanna work hard to decorate them.

Once they are finished, they are boxed up, with the name: _Hastings_ written on it, and are put aside for Peter and Veronica to get once they have finished shopping for the day. They then head to the movie theatre in the mall where they will watch the new Disney movie _101 Dalmatians_.

* * *

 _ ***Movie Theatre. 2:15 p.m.***_

Once there, the girls finish their game of I Spy while waiting in line to buy tickets, drinks, popcorn, and candy. While Peter gets the tickets, Veronica lets them choose some candy.

"I want M&Ms and Skittles, please, Momma."

"Yeah, and can we get Nerds, too?"

"Yes, you can. Do you also want some popcorn?"

"Yes, please!" After a few more minutes, they finally have the snacks and tickets, and they head off to find their spots in the theatre. The girls chitchat about school, what foods they like for Thanksgiving, and what they asked Santa for Christmas (leaving out the puppy, of course).

They have 15 grueling minutes of credits before the movie actually starts. Peter and Veronica each take one of the girls in their laps so they can see the screen better, and they rotate the drinks and snacks throughout the movie. They take a bathroom break about halfway through, and then finish out the movie.

 ** _*Around 3:45 p.m.*_**

"Wow!" Spencer exclaims as the lights come back on. "That was so awesome! Did you like the movie, Hannie?"

"Yeah!" She nods enthusiastically. "I'm glad the puppy dogs were all safe and sound at the end!"

 _It can happen in an instant._

 _One moment everything is going good…_

"All right, girls. Let's stand up and get ready to throw our trash away Then we can go get our cookies and do a little bit more shopping."

 _And the next, it all goes downhill…_

"Come on, Hannie! I see a trash can. Let's throw our trash away over there." Spencer takes her friend's hand and walks a couple of feet away from Peter and Veronica to the trashcan. They don't notice because Peter is gathering up the coats while Veronica bends down to get her purse.

 _One moment your baby and her friend are beside you…_

 _The next, they're gone._

"Oh, I see your Mommy, Spence!" Hanna says. "Her and Uncle Peter are going out the door. Come on! Let's catch up with them." The two run ahead not knowing it's a different couple.

That is, until they are outside the theatre, the couple is gone, and they have no idea where Peter and Veronica really are. They try to run back in, but the crowd pushes them out.

 _ ***Spencer's P.O.V.***_

Hanna and I try our very best to go back inside the theatre, but we can't because there are too many people. I look at Hanna and I see the fear in her eyes.

I know we're lost when we look, and look, and look, but can't find my mommy and daddy. We walk around and look for them outside the theatre. We still can't get back in because there seems to be a cajillion people coming out still.

"Come on, Hannie. Let's call out for them." I say because I can see she is getting really scared. "If we call their names, then they might hear us."

"O-okay." She says quietly. I nod my head encouragingly, and hold her hand tighter.

"Mom, Daddy! Where are you?" I yell as Hanna yells, "Auntie 'Ronica! Uncle Peter! Uncle Peter, where are you?"

"Veronica! Peter!" I yell as we near a food court that is right beside the theatre.

"S-Spence, I'm scared." My best friend says, and then she starts crying. "I want my mommy!"

"Hey, hey. It's okay, Hannie." I say, even though I'm scared too. "Do you want a hug?"

 ** _*Back in the theatre. A few minutes before*_**

"Okay, girls, I think we have everything Let's go throw our-"

 _And there is a split second between not knowing…and realizing…that they are gone._

 _Missing…_

 _Nowhere to be found…_

"Spencer? Hanna?" Veronica calls. "Peter! Where are the girls?" Peter turns at the frantic sound of his wife's voice. He notices the girls are no longer there.

"They were standing right here!" He says. He looks around, also frantic. "Spencer! Hanna! Spencer, where are you, sweetie? Hanna?"

"Peter, Peter, they're gone! Th-they're gone, and I don't know where they are!" Peter grabs her by the shoulders and forces her to look at him.

"Okay, all right, hey! Honey, honey, look at me!" Veronica snaps her eyes to his and his see them fill with tears. He runs her arms soothingly, "It's going to be okay, it will be okay. I promise. We'll go outside, call their names, and if can't find them out there, then we will do an all-call on the intercom. All right?"

"Okay?"

Veronica nods, and sighs "Yeah, let's go." They head out and start calling the girls' names.

"Spencer! Hanna! Girls, where are you? Spence? Hanna!"

 ** _*Back w/Spencer & Hanna*_**

"S-Spence," Hanna whispers. "I want my mommy."

"I know, Hannie." I say back. We're sitting at the food court. We looked everywhere but couldn't find my mommy and daddy. I don't want to tell Hanna I'm scared and want my mommy and daddy, too, because then we'd both be sad.

Instead, I try to cheer her up. "Hannie, why don't we get a snack? I have money in my backpack." I take my bag off my shoulders. It's a backpack, and has our jackets in it in case we get cold, some water bottles and granola bars, and even the leftover M&Ms from the movies.

"I'm going to get a cookie. Do you want one, too?" Hanna wipes her tears from her face and nods.

"I guess so." Hanna and I go to the counter and order a chocolate chip cookie. We eat it, but Hanna still looks sad.

"I'm still scared, Spence." Hanna says as her bottom lip trembles again. I give her a big hug.

"I have secret, Hannie." I say.

"What is it?" She says, and I use a napkin to wipe her tears just like mommy did when I skinned my knee when learning to ride a bike.

"I'm scared, too."

"R-really?" She whispers.

I nod. "Yes, really. And I want my mommy and daddy, too." Suddenly, we hear on the intercom,

"Attention, ladies and gentlemen. This is a Code Adam. I repeat: This is a Code Adam." People around us stop and listen. Some parents are grabbing their kids' hands, and others are calling out the names of their kids. I wonder what a Code Adam is?

"We are looking for Spencer Hastings and Hanna Marin. They are two, 6-year-old females. Spencer Hastings is 4'0, and has brown hair and brown eyes. She is wearing a black shirt with a pink fur vest, and black, pink, and white spotted leggings, with black fur boots. Hanna is 3'6, and has blonde hair and blue eyes. She is wearing a blue shirt with a black and white jacket, pink leggings with black hearts and brown fur boots."

"Again, this is a Code Adam. If you have any information, please immediately inform an employee closest to you. Once again, this is a Code Adam, and we are looking for two, 6-year-old females; Spencer Hastings and Hanna Marin. Thank you."

I gasp and look at Hanna. "Hanna, that's us! Come on! Let's go back to the theatre. Maybe my mom and dad will still be there!" I jump up and start to walk away. Then I realize Hanna isn't following me.

"Hanna? Come on. Let's go see if we can find my mom and dad."

"N-no. I wanna stay here."

"But, Hanna, if we go back to the theatre, then we can find my mom and dad." I say to her, trying to her to follow me.

"But w-what if we don't? W-what if we go there, a-and get _losted_ even more?" Her bottom lip trembles again and she starts crying. Instead of being mad at her, I give her a big hug and decide we can stay here.

"Okay, Hannie. We'll stay here." Then I remember what mommy says to do if I get lost. We can still do it, and we wouldn't even have to leave the food court.

"Hannie, let's go ask for help, okay? If we tell a grown that our names are Hanna and Spencer, then they will call my mommy and daddy, and they'll come get us. Let's go to the counter where we got our cookies, and ask for help. Okay?" Hanna sniffles, and wipes her tears. She looks like she's going to say 'no', but she doesn't. She says yes.

"Okay, Spence. Let's go." We go to the counter and over to the person at the cash register.

"Excuse me." I say politely. "Can you help us?"

"Hello, girls." The nice lady says. Then she looks at us funny and turns to a man. She starts whispering with him. She comes back over to us and bends down in front of me and Hanna. Hanna looks scared, and takes a step closer to me, holding my hand in hers.

"Girls, this is a very important question. Can you tell me your names?"

"My name is Spencer, and this is Hanna. We need someone to call my mom and dad because we are lost." The lady nods and goes to the phone. She dials a number and talks to someone for a few minutes. Then she looks back at us.

"Girls, great new!" She smiles. "Your mommy and daddy will be here in just a few minutes. Why don't you take a seat, right over here, so they can see you when they walk in?"

"Okay!" I smile big. "Did you hear that, Hannie? My mom and dad will be here soon! We can go home and you can see your mommy!"

"Really?" She asks.

"Yeah! Really!" We sit down and the nice lady gives us another cookie and some water. Then my mom and dad come running in. When we see them, we both jump up.

"Mom! Daddy!" I run to my mom and Hanna runs to my dad.

"Oh, girls, there you are! Are you all right? What happened?"

 _And all you moms and dads, sisters and brothers, aunts and uncles, and grandparents out there know that there's not another moment greater than seeing that your baby is okay…that they're safe and sound, and just not lost anymore._

 _And you all know that your heart doesn't stop racing until the second they are in your arms, you know for sure they are okay._

 _And when you do finally see them, you don't know whether to grab them up and hug them, or to yell at them, or to do both at the same time._

"We just got lost, Momma." I say.

"I'm sorry, Aunt 'Ronica." Hanna says. "This is my fault."

"Why is your fault, sweetie?"

"Because I thought you were leavin' the theatre, but you weren't. We followed some people out 'cause I thought they were you, but it wasn't, and then we got lost."

"Yeah," I say. "We tried to go back to the theatre, but there were so many people! We couldn't get inside, and we tried calling for you, but we just couldn't find you. But I did like you said, and went to a grown up and asked for help. We even heard the Code Adam. We asked for help, and they called you and then you found us!"

"Oh, girls. It's ok. All that matters now, is that you're both all right. I'm glad you're okay, and I am very proud of both of you for going to an adult and asking for help. Now, what do you say, we head on home. I think you two have had more than enough excitement for one day."

 ** _*Normal P.O.V.*_**

The four head to the doors then, making a quick and short stop to get the cookies, and then they are off. They drop Hanna off at her house, and explain what happened in more detail. Veronica had called Ashely and told her that Spencer and Hanna were missing.

She convinced her friend not to come to the mall, that they were handling everything, and thank God less than 6 ½ minutes after that phone call, Veronica was making another.

This one was a happy phone call: the girls had been found, safe and sound. And that they would be home in less than 15 minutes.

Hanna receives a big hug from Ashley. She checks her over, just to be sure her baby is ok. Then she gratefully thanks Peter and Veronica for finding her daughter, and getting her home safely.

* * *

 **Here you go! Let me know what you thought! :) Whose day do you want to read about next?**

 **Did you like the scene where Hanna and Spence got lost? I tried not to make Spencer _too_ grownup, but she was trying to be brave for her friend.**

 **Have you or a friend/family ever gotten lost like this? Did they have to use a "Code Adam" for it, or were you able to locate the missing person before it came to that?**

 **Here is a Random, Fun Fact of the Day: When I was little bitty and would have giggle fits, my mom would say "it sounds like your giggle box got turned over", and for the longest time, -no joke, this is in the literal sense- I thought there was a box inside my body that would make me laugh _only_ when it got turned over. Like, I seriously thought. I obviously don't anymore, but I did. XD**

 **What is your Random, Fun Fact of the Day?**

 **Up Next: _Short, filler, follow-up to this chapter.  
_** **Then: _A Lucas/Hanna sibling day for_ Guest.**


	8. Shh, It's a Secret!

**Disclaimer: I don't own PLL or its characters.  
Spoilers: None.  
Rating: K+**

 **Here's a follow-up to the last chapter.**

 **Enjoy. =)**

* * *

 _ **Friday, November 15th, 1996.**_

* * *

 ** _*Spencer's barn*_**

It's not until Friday that the girls are able to gather back over at Spencer's barn. They all pile into the front room of it, shedding their coats, scarfs, and gloves. The temperature has dropped significantly over the last week, getting colder with each day.

It's also been a week since the incident at the mall. Ashley has kept a close eye on Hanna throughout the week, but the little blonde seems to have no lasting effects from being lost at the mall.

Friday is sleepover day. The girls, and boys -Luke, a boy from Mel's 3rd grade class, named Caleb, and Toby from second grade- come over and they have dinner and a movie, and then sleep over in the barn.

The girls gather in the front room, and as they are all getting their big _USA Floor Puzzle_ out, Spencer and Hanna tell them about Daisy the puppy dog they met at the mall. (Spencer said this was a secret and couldn't be told at school).

"After we saw Daisy, we went to Santa's Workshop." Spencer continues. "We made cookies and ornaments." Spencer says as she begins putting the puzzle together. She puts three pieces of _California_ together and hooks them to Courtney's piece that's part of _Oregon_.

"Santa isn't real. Only babies believe in him." Alison snarks, making Hanna turn to her.

"Yes he is! We got pictures with him!"

"No you didn't! Santa isn't real; it was a person in a costume!" Alison says back, hands on her hips.

"Don't say that, sissy!" Courtney tells her, turning around and looking at her sister in surprise. "He is too real! He comes every year. He brought us the Barbie house last year, remember? We didn't tell Mamma and Daddy about it, (they did, but she forgot) and we still got it." Alison slumps her shoulders as she remembers.

"Oh, yeah…that's right."

"I asked for clothes for my American Girl Doll!" Hanna says happily.

"You don't even have one! You can't get clothes if you don't have the doll!" Alison sasses.

"Oh, yeah? Well, I'm getting' one for my birthday! I heard my mamma talkin' about it. So, I asked Santa for clothes, pjs, a toothbrush and toothpaste, and a hairbrush!"

"Cool! I hope you get all those things!" Emily says, grinning at Hanna.

"What did you ask for, Spencie?" Court asks, putting more of _Washington_ onto her _Oregon_ puzzle piece and then connecting it with _Idaho_.

"I asked for some super cool Spy stuff! I'm gonna get spy goggles, a camera that records, and even a pen that writes invisible messages!"

"Awesome! Can I play with when you get it, Spencie?"

"Sure, Ari! You and me can write secret messages to each other at school, and then take them home and use the special light to see what is written!"

"Yay! I can't wait!"

"Oh! Spence, tell'em 'bout the secret present we asked for." Hanna reminds her, which quickly peaks the interest of the others.

"You asked for a secret present?"

"What is it?"

"Tell us! Tell us!"

"Okay. Come closer, guys." She starts whispering all about her plan, and everyone comes closer to form a tighter circle. "Hanna and I asked Santa for a puppy for Christmas. It's something we asked him for, but didn't tell my mom or dad, and you didn't tell Auntie Ashley or Uncle Tom, right, Hanna?"

"Right!" Hanna nods firmly. "It's a secret, so I didn't tell!"

"And I made a plan; if there is a puppy for us on Christmas morning, that means, Hanna, you were right. Santa _is_ real. But, if we don't get a puppy, then, Ali, _you're_ right. He's not real."

"Now, this is a secret, so don't tell your mommies or daddies. Okay? And don't tell your grammas, grampas, aunts, uncles, or even your bigger cousins!"

"Okay!" "Yes, Spence!" "We promise!" Are all the answers as everyone hooks onto each other's pinkies. They make a circle, give each other a firm nod, and then let go.

Even though the girls were whispering, Mel, who was on her way to get a drink from the kitchen since she and the older kids are watching a movie in the movie room, overheard them still.

She realizes that even though she's only six years old, her baby sister is close to finding out the truth: Santa is not real. So, she decides to tell her mom and dad about Spencer's plan. And that they have to get her a puppy dog for Christmas if they want their youngest to believe just a _little_ bit longer.

* * *

 **Here is a short and sweet chapter. Please review!**

 _ **Next Up: Sibling Day with Hanna and Lucas.**_

 **Emily will have cousin named Jacob Holiday. He is three years older than Emily.** **Also! I need a girl friend for Melissa. I don't want her to be stuck with just the boys all the time, so if you'd like to, you can name her friend for me.**


	9. Big Brother, Little Sister

**Prompt for** ** _Guest_** **who wanted a Hanna/Lucas sibling day.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pretty Little Liars; it belongs to its rightful owner(s).  
Spoilers: None  
Rating: K+**

* * *

 **Reply to reviews (chapter 4-6):**

 **SethuEmaya** **: You're welcome. :) I'm glad you liked it, and yes, I agree. Alison should have a normal, happy childhood before turns into the Queen Bee of Rosewood, High.**

 **Emilie2601** **: Glad you liked it :) Yes, I agree that Ali would have been full of excitement as a kid. No problem for the shoutout. XD I'm glad I got everything right; I was using Good translate, and wasn't sure if everything was right.**

 **Guest** **: Here's your chapter. I hope you come back to read it. Thanks for the review. :)**

 **Leapyearbaby29** **: I will have more Emison soon, just let me know what you want them to do or if you want me to choose. She went as the Big Bad Wolf for Halloween. Also, none of Alison's classmates are going to be mentioned much, and Alison's mom will be "Jess" or "Aunt Jessica". The boys, along with Mel, are about 2-3 years older than the girls. Thanks for the review. :)**

 **Lucas: 9 years old.  
Hanna: 6 years old. (going on 7)**

* * *

 _ **Saturday, November 16** **th** **, 1996**_

* * *

 ** _*Marin Residence*_**

Today, Ashley is going to let Hanna and Lucas do an activity together as siblings.

"All right, you two. Are your hands nice and clean?" She asks her kids.

"Yes!"

"Yeah, Mom. Can you tell us what we're going to do now?"

Ashley smiles. "As soon as you two come sit at the table and close your eyes." Hanna runs over to the table with Luke following. Ashley knows he'll perk up once he sees what the activity is, especially because it involves melting crayons.

"What are we gonna make, Mamma?" Hanna asks. They are learning about fall in class; the colors that people might see, talking about temperature change, what holidays might be celebrated, etc.

"Well, you and bubba are going to trace your hands on some construction paper. Then you will tape the hand in the middle of this paper. After that, we will take the hairdryer and melt the crayons. The melted part will run around the hand. Then, we'll take off the hand and you'll have the outline of your hands with melted crayon around it."

"Awesome!"

"Yeah, cool, Mom!"

"All right, well, let's get started. Hanna, can you tell me two colors that you might see in the Fall?"

"Um…." Hanna thinks long and hard. "Purple…?" Ashley nods encouragingly. "And…" Hanna gets lost for a moment and has to think harder. She side-eyes Luke who sneakily puts his finger on an orange and acts like that is the color he wants as he drags it towards himself slowly. Ashley pretends not to notice.

"Orange!"

"Yes, very good. Now, Lucas, can you tell me two colors _you_ might see in the fall?"

"Uh…well, there's orange and purple, like Hanna said. Then there's red, green…can I say more than two?" Ashley nods. "Well, there's also red-orange, brown, blue-green, yellow …and that's it I think."

Ashley nods and drags a box of old and broken crayons closer. "Very good, you two. Now, here are some crayons. We have tons of other colors, but for this activity we are going to use only Fall colors. We have red, orange, yellows, some blues and greens. We also have a few mixed colors which are the blue-greens, green-yellow, and red-orange."

"Have fun picking them out; I'm going to get the hot-glue gun and hair dryer." When Ashley leaves the kitchen, Luke and Hanna dig through the bucket.

"What color do you want to use, Hanna?" Luke asks his baby sister.

"Umm…I want purple and blue and pink!"

"Okay, here are some purple crayons. Now, you can't use light pink, but how this color pink?" He holds up a crayon that's had part of its wrapper torn off and looks to be very worn-out. "It's a dark pink. You might see this color pink more than a light one."

"Okay! Yeah, I like that one. Thank you, Luke!"

Lucas and Hanna spend the next few minutes picking out their colors. Hanna chooses purple, pink, blue-green, and red. And Lucas chooses green, green-blue, blue, red, and red-orange. Ashley checks on them every few minutes between getting the hot-glue gun warmed up, the poster boards ready, and finding the old hair dry for them to use.

"Okay, guys, do you have all your colors picked out?"

"Yes, Mommy! Don't you think I have some pretty colors?"

"Yes, baby. They are very pretty. Now, I need you tow to pick out a marker and I am going to trace your hands here on this sheet of paper."

"Okay, Mamma. I wanna use pink, okay?"

"All right. And Luke, what color would you like?"

"I dunno. Green I guess. But I can trace my own hand, right, Mom? I don't need you to do it."

"Yes, you can do it on your own. Hanna, come here, sweetie. Let's get your hand traced and then you can help me glue your crayons onto the poster board." After getting their hands traced, cut out, and taped onto their poster boards, Ashley helps them carefully glue their crayons on. They had to wait about 5 to 10 minutes for the glue to get nice and dry; afterwards they eagerly bounce back over to the table.

"Now, to make it fair on who gets to go first, I am going to think of a number between 1 and 20. You each pick a number and whoever gets the closer will go first. Ready?"

"Yeah!"

"All right. Let me think of one…okay, Luke you choose a number."

"Umm…I choose the number 12!"

"Okay, now Hanna, you choose a number."

"I choose the number 7, 'cause I'm gonna be seven next month!"

"Okay. And the number I was thinking of was…." She pauses for dramatic affect. "15! Luke was the closest." She says as Lucas cheers and Hanna pouts a little.

"Yes!" Ashley sets Lucas up with his poster board and the hair dryer, giving instructions on how to melt the crayons.

"Be careful now, sweetie, and don't touch the crayons. The wax will be very hot, and may burn your fingers."

"Okay, mom."

"All right. And Hanna, would you like to watch Lukie melt the crayons?" Hanna nods and hops up on to Ashley's lap. They watch as the hairdryer melts the crayons, sending lined-patterns of blue, green, blue-green, red, and red-orange down the board.

"Wow! Mamma, it looks so cool!" Hanna says in awe. "Look! It's all melted and its goin' 'round bubba's hand! Oh, can we do mine now, Mommy? Can we, please?"

"Well, yes. But we have to wait until Bubba is done." Hanna and Ashley continue watching until Luke can't melt them any longer. Then, Ashley helps Hanna melt her crayons. Hanna watches in awe as a rainbow of purple, pink, red, and blue-green make their way down the poster.

Later in the afternoon, when their crayons have cooled, Ashley has them un-tape their hands.

"Oh, wow!" Luke says in awe. "It looks so cool!"

The two hand their posters up in the hallway both eager to show Tom once he gets home. All in all, Lucas and Hanna had a wonderful big brother, little sister day today.

* * *

 **So here is the Hanna/Lucas sibling day. Review and let me know what you think. :)**

 **Don't forget to get your prompts in!**

 ** _Next Up: Thanksgiving_**


	10. Thanksgiving (1996)

**Updated April 18th, 2017. Switched Alison/Courtney's age to: 7 years old.**

* * *

 **Disclaimers: I do not own PLL or the characters.  
Spoilers: None  
Rating: K+**

 **This is just a short piece. It will have a little bit with the kids helping to cook. I decided to do something different from an actual Thanksgiving lunch/dinner chapter.**

 **Note 1: For those of you that wanted it, this has some Little Hannily in it! :)  
Note 2: 'Mammy' & 'Mamma' are pronounced the same as 'Mommy' & 'Momma'. I wanted to try something different with the spelling. :)**

* * *

 **Big kids: 9 years old.  
** **Little kids: 3-7 years old.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 _ **Day Before Thanksgiving  
November 1996**_

* * *

Today is the day before Thanksgiving, and the parents have all decided to celebrate it together. They are going to make a desert or one main dish each and bring it over to the Hastings' for lunch. The moms and dads have also decided to let the kids make the desert (with supervision, of course) to get them all in the spirit.

Because she does not have any younger or older siblings, Pam has brought Emily over to the Marin's residence so she and Hanna can make their desert together.

* * *

 ** _*Marin Residence* (with Emily and Pam) Recipe: Pecan Pie_**

While Pam helps the girls mix together the ingredients, Ashley combines the maple syrup, brown sugar, whipping cream, and molasses.

"All right, girls," Pam says to the two first-graders. "I need you to both take the eggs and crack them into the bowl. You think you can do that?"

Hanna nods eagerly while Emily answers, "Yes, Mammy! Here, Hanna-Banana. You get three eggs and I get three. That makes five, right, Mammy?"

"Almost, baby." Pam answers as she lines up the eggs. Let's count them together, okay? Hanna, you go first. Get one of the eggs and let's count it." As Hanna breaks the eggs, she and Emily work to count them. Emily watches her friend focus on cracking the eggs. She thinks Hanna is so cute when she sticks out her tongue and squints in concentration so she doesn't get any shell in the bowl.

"1…2…3! I have three eggs, Auntie Pam!"

"Good job, Hanna. Now, Emmy, let's do yours. Pick one up and we are going to start with number four. Ready?"

"Yes, Mamma. This is four." She cracks the egg into the bowl.

"And what comes next?"

"Five! And then six! We have six eggs. We did it, Mammy!"

"You did, and I'm very proud of you both. Now, we need to add the butter in. I've melted the butter and we have 4 tablespoons. Who wants to pour it in?"

"I do, Auntie Pam!" Hanna answers eagerly, and Pam looks to Emily. The little brunette shrugs.

"Hannie can do it if she wants." Emily says and Hanna beams.

"Thanks, Emmy!" Hanna replies. She grins, not aware of the real reason Emily let her do it.

"Okay, Hanna. Here you go. Be careful, okay sweetie? The cup will be warm." She hands the cup to Hanna who pours in the butter. "That's good, nice and slow so you don't spill it."

"Good job!" She praises. "Now for the salt. Emmy, do you think you can read me how much salt we need?"

"Okay, Mamma. Umm…it says "1 dash 2, t-s-p. salt."

"Very good. Now, the 1 dash 2 means ½ half, and the t-s-p stands for teaspoon. So we need…"

"1/2 a teaspoon of salt!"

"Yes! Very good. Here are the measuring spoons; can you find the half-teaspoon one?" Emily and Hanna take a few seconds to looks through the set of spoons. Seeing her struggle, Hanna leans over to whisper something to Emily, and points to one of the spoons.

Emily beams, and whispers back, "Thanks, Hanna-Banana." Before getting the spoon and holding it up with a big smile.

"This one says it, Mamma!"

"Very good, sweetie. Now, here you go. Add the salt in." After Emily adds the salt, and lets Hanna stir the ingredients up, Pam takes it over to Ashley who adds it to the pot.

The next thing to do is to break up, and add in, 2 cups of pecans. Once those are in, she gets the pie ready and then puts it in the oven to cook.

* * *

 ** _*Hastings' Residence*_ _Recipe: Pumpkin Pie_**

"Mom, can we make the pie now?" Melissa asks, bouncing up and down. Each year, since they have been old enough to do so, Melissa and Spencer have been in charge of making the pumpkin pie.

"Yes, you can. You can read the recipe and ask me or daddy if you need help. Mel, be sure you let Spencer help you, too, okay? And don't be mean. You can measure stuff out, and take turns putting it in the bowl. There needs to be two eggs; you can crack one, and she'll do the other. No fighting or you both will have to go sit on the steps. Understand?"

"Yes, Mom."

"Okay, I am going to be making the mac & cheese, so I'll be here if you need me." Veronica heads over to the other side of the kitchen to begin the rest of lunch. Melissa looks at the cookbook, and decides to be nice to Spencer today, because she likes it when she is the one to teach her baby sister new things.

"Spencie, look at the book." She says. "We need two eggs. Can you count and get two eggs, Spencie?"

"Yes, sissy. I'm good at counting. See?" She pulls the carton of eggs over. "1 egg…2 eggs. There! Can I crack them, please?"

"Yes, be sure not to get any shells in the bowl. It'll make the pie taste gross." Spencer carefully cracks both eggs. Melissa takes the bowl and whisks them. Then she takes the other bowl -the dry ingredient bowl, and gets the measuring cups and spoons, and the sugar and salt.

"Do you know what this says, Spencer?" Melissa points to the "¾ cup sugar" in the book, but Spencer shrugs. "It says ¾ cup of sugar. You take this measuring cup, -see? It says ¾ right here- and you put sugar in it until the line is at the ¾." She measures it out and pours it into the bowl. Then she gets the salt and the ½ teaspoon, and hands it to Spencer.

"Fill this spoon up with salt. That's the ½ teaspoon. It's really tiny because we only need a tiny bit of salt." Spencer dips the spoon in the salt and dumps it in the blow. They continue this routine for the cinnamon, cloves, and ginger.

"Now you need to stir it all up." Mel says. "Be careful, Spencie, and stir it up. Then we can ask Mamma for help with this ingredient." She taps the "1 can evaporated milk" because she's having trouble pronouncing it and she doesn't know how to correctly open the can.

"Okay, sissy. Stir it like this?" The little brunette gently stirs everything together.

"Yes! Good job, sissy!" Mel praises and Spencer beams her missing bottom tooth showing.

"Now we need Mammy." Melissa says and she turns around, shouting, "Mammy! Can you help us? I can't read this one." And Veronica comes over, proud of her girls for working together this long.

"Sure, sweetie. Which do you need help with?" Melissa points to the "1 can evaporated milk" and the "1 can of pumpkin puree".

"All right, let me open the can and then you can pour the milk in Melissa. I'm very proud of you for helping Spencer. And Spencer, I am proud of you for doing such a good job putting the ingredients in and stirring it up." After she measures it out, Melissa puts the remaining ingredients into the bowl and they combine the dry and wet ingredients.

Once that is finished, Veronica puts it into the pie crust and then that in the over to bake. She praises the girls once more before allowing them to go to the barn where their new Thanksgiving coloring books are.

* * *

 ** _*Montgomery Residence* Recipe: Pumpkin "Pie" Cups_**

"Mammy, me and Mikey are ready to help!" Aria says as she and three-and-a-half-year-old Mike come into the kitchen. Mike and Aria are in change of making the kids' desert: Pumpkin "Pie" Cups.

"All right," Ella says helping Mike into his booster seat as Aria kneels on another. "Here is what we need to do. Aria, you need to count out nine cups. Can you do that?"

"Yes, Mammy. I'm good at counting!" After Aria counts the cups, Ella hands Mike some vanilla wafers and two cups.

"Now, Mikey, I need four vanilla wafers in each cup. Can you help me count them?"

" _Otay_ , Mammy!"

"Good. Ready, let's go. 1…" Ella starts him off and he grins.

"1…2…3…uh… what comes next?" He asks, getting stuck. Aria leans over and whispers the answer in his ear, and he beams, "Oh, yeah! 4! I did it, Mamma!" He says to Ella, and then, "Thank you, sissy!" to Aria who grins back at him.

"You did! Good job, sweetie. Now, let's do these cups, okay? 1…2… can you finish? What comes next, Mikey?"

"3! 3…4!"

"Good job! Now, sissy is going to help daddy put the pudding in. Aria, can you help dad do the rest?"

"Yep! Daddy, I can help you." Byron comes over and sets down the rest of the ingredients.

"Okay, little bug. We are going to take the pudding and this right here," He points to a container of spice. "It's called "pumpkin pie spice" and we are going to mix it with a little bit of the pudding and then add it to the cups. Ready?"

"Yes!"

"Good. Now, do you think you can sprinkle the spice into the pudding?"

"Yes, Daddy! How much?"

"Just a little pinch. Like when you pinched Mikey that one time, you used the tips of your fingers."

"Daddy!" Aria frowns. "I wasn't supposta do that, though. That's a bad thing."

"I know, sweetie. But this is a good pinch. Use your finger and thumb."

"Okay. Like this?" She sprinkles some spice in the pudding.

"Good, now we stir it and put some in each cup. Then we take the Cool Whip and put a dollop of that in each cup. Like this," He does three cups and hands the spoon to Aria. "Now you try. Take the spoon and scoop it up. Then drop it in the cup."

Aria drops the Cool whip in the cup and the four continue the routine; Mike and Ella doing the wafers then handing the cups to Byron and Aria so they can add the pudding mixed with pumpkin pie spice and Cool Whip.

After a few minutes, they have nine cups made out and Ella sits them in the fridge to chill just a little.

* * *

 ** _*Dilaurentis Residence* Recipe: Chocolate Pie_**

At the Dilaurentis house, Mary is getting the ingredients for her famous chocolate pie. Jason has decided to sit this one out. He received an early birthday present from his and the twins' grandparents, - a Gameboy, and is now obsessed with it.

While their parents are (once again) working, and they are on break for three days, Mary is allowing him thirty minutes a day to play on it. He's already lost 10 minutes this morning (Mary counted 10 mins. when she caught him with it at breakfast), so he's using the last 20 right now.

Mary calls the twins into the kitchen. She has all the ingredients out.

"Hi, Nanny Mary!" Courtney greets. "Are we gonna make the chocolate pie now?"

"We sure are. Have your girls washed your hands?"

"Yes! And we're ready to help!"

"Good! Let's get started. Come over to the table, please." The girls follow her to the table, where a mixing bowl and the ingredients are. "Now, I want you, Court, to read me the first ingredient from this book."

Courtney looks at the cookbook and concentrates hard. Since Mary is home with the girls often, she's decided to teach them how to cook. Alison and Courtney are both able to read a cookbook, and correctly tell the difference between cups, teaspoons, and tablespoons.

Courtney runs her finger down the page, finding the first ingredient. "We need 2 cups of wuh-wuh…iy…tuh, white sugar."

"Very good, Court. Would you like to pour the sugar in?" Courtney nods eagerly as Alison turns on her "sass" face, tired of waiting for her turn already.

"Hey! I wanna put the sugar in, too!"

Mary nods. "Just a moment, sweetie. We need two cups of sugar; you get one, and Court gets one. Now, I'm going to let Court pour in a cup, then you can pour in the second cup. Okay?" Alison huffs out a breath, but nods nonetheless.

"Good girl. Okay, Court. Here is your cup. Now, nice and easy, pour it into the bowl."

"Okay!" Courtney takes the cup and pours in the sugar." Alison goes next, and Mary ticks off that ingredient.

"Okay, Alison, can you read off the next ingredient?"

"Yes, Nanny Mary. It says, "5 tablespoons un-sss-swee-tuh-ened, unsweetened cocoa powder." Mary hands Alison the tablespoon and lets her measure out five.

"Court, you can go next."

"1/4 cup all-pur-pus-ss, purpose flour!" She says proudly, beaming.

"Good job! Now, do you remember what the ¼ cup measuring cup looks like?"

"Yes! It's this one." She holds it up proudly, before putting flour in it and dumping it in the bowl. Mary sees Alison cross her arms out of the corner of her eye. She hopes the little girl refrains from starting a fight, at least for today.

"All right, girls. I'm going to do the next couple of ingredients, then Ali you can read off what we need next, okay?" Mary starts a bowl with the wet ingredients. She puts in the evaporated milk and vanilla extract. Then she gets the eggs out.

"All right, you each get two eggs. Alison, you go first. Take two eggs and crack them into the bowl." Alison cracks the eggs and then Courtney does her two. Mary pours in the butter.

She lets Courtney stir the wet ingredients and Alison sties the dry ingredients. She then combines the two, stirring them together and pouring them into the pie crust.

She pops the pie in the oven, praises the girls for their hard work and working together, and then sends them off to play.

* * *

 **Here it is! I want to wish everyone a happy and safe Thanksgiving! Review when you can and tell me what you thought. :)**

 _ **Up Next:** **Hanna's 7th birthday  
Then: Filler chapter #1  
Then: Filer chapter #2**_


	11. Hanna's 7th Birthday

**Updated on April 18th, 2017. Switched Alison/Courtney's age to: 7 years old.**

* * *

 **So, I was wrong. It looks like the first Saturday in December will be Hanna's birthday. So, this is her party and not a Sparia hang day I promise you'll get one soon, though!. :)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own PLL, its characters, or the rights to the presents, party games, etc.  
Spoilers: None as of yet.  
Rating: K+**

 **Note: I am going to have about 2/3 of this in Hanna's POV. Let me know what you think and if you want another chapter in one of the kids' point of views.**

 **Older kids: 7-9 years old (2nd-3rd grade)  
Little Kids: 6-7 years old (1st grade)**

* * *

 _ **December 7** **th** **, 1996  
Hanna's 7** **th** **birthday**_

* * *

 _ ***Hanna's P.O.V.***_

I wake up really early on my birthday. Today it's on a Saturday. That means no school! I get to stay up really late and have cake and ice cream all day long. I am also 7 years old. That means only Spencer and Aria are left being 6 years old.

My birthday party in going to be in Spencer's barn. She's one of best friends. My other best friends, Ali and Court -they're twins, and Ari and Emmy are going to be there too. Some other kids from class, Jessica, Leah, and Sophie, are coming too.

We're going to do an art project, have games with a piñata and there's even gonna be a magician at the party! I get up and run downstairs where mammy and daddy are. "Mornin', Mammy! Mornin', Daddy!" I say.

"Good morning, princess." Daddy says. "Happy Birthday, baby."

"Happy Birthday, sweetie." Mammy says. "Would you like some breakfast?"

"Um…what about chocolate chip pancakes with strawberries and whip cream and sprinkles?" I smile real big.

"Sure, baby. Tell ya what," Daddy says. "Why don't you and mamma go see if you have any presents that need to be opened early while I cook your breakfast?"

"Okay! Come on, Mamma." I go with mammy to the living room. My presents are on a table. I have six whole presents from mammy, daddy, and my big brother Lucas. Mammy lets me pick out a present. I get one that's a bag. It's pink with green polka dots. I look at Mammy and smile real big.

"Can I open this one, Mamma?"

"If it's the one you want, sure, baby. Come to the kitchen so daddy can watch too, okay?" I follow Mammy back the kitchen and sit at the table. I open my present. It's a pretty blue dress. It has a light blue head band and some white tights to go with it.

"Mamma! It's so pretty! Look at my new dress, Daddy!" Daddy smiles and says it looks very pretty. After I get done eating my breakfast, I go watch a movie in the living. Bubba is just getting up, so daddy fixes him some breakfast too, then we go to watch some Golden Girls. Mammy says she thinks it's a little weird that we like it, but still lets us watch.

Finally, after waiting forever and ever, it's time for my party! I put on some clothes that I can jump around in. Mammy said she'll take my dress and tights, and I can dress in them for presents, cake, ice cream, and the magician.

Mammy puts my hair in two French braids with my headband. Bubba is wearing a shirt with a tie and some nice pants like the ones he and daddy wear to church.

Don't tell him I said this, but _I think bubba_ like- _likes Spencer's big sister Melissa._

After everyone is dressed, we go to Spencer's house. Her daddy has two bouncy houses put up. He said we can jump around even though it's a little cold outside.

"Hi, Hanna!" Emmy yells when she sees me. Her, Court and Ali are in the pink and purple bounce house. The second bouncy house is green and blue, and is for Toby, Lucas, and Caleb to jump in. Caleb is Mel's friend from her third-grade class, and Toby is in second-grade.

"Hi, Emmy!" I smile back at her.

"Happy Birthday, Hannie!" Courtney tells me. She gets out of the bouncy house and gives me a big hug.

"Yeah! Happy Birthday, Han!" Ali and Emmy say.

"Thank you!" I smile and be sure to be polite. "Where are Spencie and Aria?"

"They're inside! We can't go to the barn yet 'cause the magician is settin' up stuff. Your show is gonna be so cool!"

"Yeah!" I say. "We're gonna do so many cool things!" We go to the bouncy houses and jump around. Jess, Leah, and Sophie finally get here and they come jump with us.

* * *

 _ ***Around 25 minutes later. Start of Magic Show***_

After jumping in the bouncy houses and playing with some party stuff, Mamma says I need to change into my pretty dress, tights, and headband. Then, Auntie 'Ronica says we can go to the barn.

When we walk in, it looks so cool! There's pillows and chairs for us to sit on, and there is a person with a hat and cap on. We all sit down on the pillows, chairs, and the couches.

"Good afternoon, boys and girls!" The magician says. "My name is Presto the Magician. How are you guys today?"

"We're good!" We all say. This is gonna be so much fun. I can't wait!

"That's awesome! Now, I hear today is a very special day. Would there happen to be a Birthday Girl by the name of Hanna anywhere here today?" Hey! That's me!

I jump up and down, and wave my hand around. "Me! Me! I'm Hanna!"

"Well, Hanna, why don't you come on up here?" I look at Mamma and she smiles and nods, so I get up and go over to him. "Now, can you face everyone…good job."

"And can you tell everyone here your name and how old you are today?"

"My name is Hanna Elizabeth-Grace Marin, and I am 7 years old today!"

"Great! Now, Hanna, since there looks to be some older kids here, I am going to ask everyone who's older than you to stand up. Is that ok?"

I just nod 'cause I don't know why he wants to do that. "All right, boys and girls, if you are 8 to 10 years old, I want you to step to the other side of the room, right over there, and my assistant will have a show all for you." Mel, Luke, Caleb, and Toby get up and go to the other side of the room.

The magician does all kinds of cool tricks, and I get to help on all of them. There's one where he pours milk into a roll of newspaper, and makes it disappear. Then there is the one where takes some rings that are together.

He tells me to pull very, very hard them to see if they'll come apart. I try and try, but I can't get them to come apart, so I hand them back.

"No, Mr. Presto, I can't get them apart. They're stuck!" Mr. Presto smiles at me.

"Okay, Hanna. Why don't I give it a try?"

"Okay!" He puts them together into one circle, and then…he takes them all apart! Wow! That's so cool! My favorite one is when a magician pulls a bunny out of a hat. I hope he does that one today!

The magician gets a hat out and turns to me. "Okay, Hanna, I need you to look very closely at this hat. Do you see anything in it?" I look very closely, but it's empty!

"No! I don't see anything."

"All right, good. Now, take this wand and wave it over the hat. Do you know the magic words?"

"Yes!" The magician put a towel over the hat and I take the wand and wave it over the hat. I grin real big and say, "Abracadabra!" Then the magician pulls a bunny rabbit out. She's so pretty. She's black and white, and is very fluffy.

"Oh, wow! She's so pretty!"

"This, boys and girls, is Cookie. She is my pet bunny. And you know what?"

"What?"

"Cookie was supposed to be in her cage at home. But I guess she wanted to come along for the trip with me." I giggle 'cause that sounds so silly!

* * *

 _ **Normal P.O.V.**_

After the magician's assistance paints everyone's faces, they have balloon-animal making lessons, and they take markers and draw faces on the balloons.

Then they head inside the main house for cake, ice cream, and presents. Hanna sits in the chair deemed the 'birthday girl' chair. She has a blast opening her presents, getting books, some Barbie dolls, a couple of stuffed animals, and some new winter pajamas, along with a whole snowsuit outfit to play in the snow over Christmas break.

As she nears the end of her presents, Hanna opens up a box shaped like a rectangle. She quickly tears off the paper and gasps at what she sees. It's an American Girl Doll, named Samantha

"Awesome! It's an American Girl Doll. Thank you, Mammy!"

"You're welcome, baby." Ashley smiles. "Why don't you open up that big bad right there and see what's in it?" Hanna pulls over a good-sized bag. She takes the tissue paper out of it and pulls out several things.

First is a matching outfit for school, along with two matching pajama sets each.

Then she pulls out Samantha's _school lunch_ which consists of a lunch tray, a pizza, salad, banana, milk carton, a cookie, a napkin, straw, spork, and holder.

She then pulls out three more items. The Samantha _School Locker_ , _Slumber Party Gear and Bear_ , and _Slumber Shirt_.

The other kids crowd around her, looking through the clothes and accessories.

"This is so cool, Hanna!" Jess, a little girl from her class, says. "Now you and me match! I got Sammy, too!"

"Awesome, Jessie!"

"Yeah," Emily agrees. "Me and you, we both got the slumber party stuff! Your American Girl Doll can share the bunkbeds that I have. And we can dress them up in their matching pajamas."

"Awesome, Emmy. We can dress up and match, too! And then, me and you, and Samantha and your doll can all match together!"

The adults give the kids a few minutes to play with Hanna's doll, and then they gather them up for cake and ice cream.

"Okay, boys and girls," Ashley says as Peter and Veronica bring Hanna's pink and purple princess cake to the table. "I want the birthday girl right here in the middle." Hanna bounces up to the table, and Ashley lights the pink, sparkly, #7 candle.

"Okay, is everyone ready?" Everyone gathers around and starts singing.

 _Happy Birthday to you,  
Happy Birthday to you.  
Happy Birthday, dear Hanna.  
Happy Birthday to you!_

Once Hanna makes a wish a blows out the candle, the cake is cut and handed out with the ice cream.

All in all, Hanna had a fantastic 7th birthday.

* * *

 **Here it is! I hope you like it. Review and let me know what you thought about it being in Hanna's point of view. If you want another chapter in 1st person, let me know which chapter and whose point of view you want to read. :)**

 ** _Next up: Filler chapter #1_**  
 ** _Then: Filler chapter #2_**  
 ** _After that: Christmas Morning with the kids_**

 **Also, I have some questions for you guys.**

 **1\. What grade should Maya enter in? Here are the options:**

 **1a. 2nd grade (7-8 years old)  
** **1b. 3rd grade (8-9 years old)  
1c. 4th grade (9-10 years old)**


	12. Brittany S Pierce (First Big-Kid Bed)

**Disclaimer: I do not own PLL, Glee, their characters, or any toys, candy, food, etc. listed in this chapter.  
Spoilers: None as of yet.  
Rating: low to mid-T**

* * *

 **Note: This chapter, and all future chapters titled 'Brittany S. Pierce' are very important regarding what is going to happen to Brittany in the future.**

 **Note 2: A few things to remember: Brittany is almost 3, in preschool, and an only child in this chapter. She does not know Santana, Quinn, Rachel, or any PLL character. Her home life is not a good one. Her father struggles to take care of her and meet her needs, while her mother is a drunk and abusive.**

 **Main characters in this chapter are:  
Brittany S. Pierce: 2 ½ years old.  
Brittany's dad: Thomas Pierce  
Brittany's mom: Jessica Pierce**

* * *

 _ **December 10** **th** **, 1996**_

* * *

 _ ***Pierce Residence***_

In order to get upstairs to his daughter's nursery, Thomas Nathaniel Pierce has to walk past his wife, Jessica Lynn Pierce, who is passed out on the couch from drinking all night. He sighs as he wonders where things went wrong; and why his wife blows away her paycheck on alcohol and cigarettes.

He makes it there without her waking up, and that in itself is a miracle. He enters the farm animal-themed room and smiles when he sees his 18-month-old daughter standing up in her crib.

"Daddy!" Brittany squeals as she holds her hands up to be picked up. Thomas sighs as he notices that Brittany has almost outgrown her crib because she is taller than most 18-month-olds. That's why today he is taking her to the story to look at 'Big Kid' beds.

"Hey there, my love. Did you sleep good?" Thomas lifts her out of the crib and begins getting her ready, telling her all about how they're going to get a big girl bed, and that she won't have to sleep in the crib anymore.

After getting a new pull-up on her, and praising her for going pee-pee on the potty, he dresses her in a with turtle neck with a red dress over it, and black leggings with fuzzy, warm, black boots.

"Now, Britt-Britt," Thomas says when they are the very top of the staircase. "What do we do when mammy is sleeping?"

Brittany puts her tiny finger to her lips, and says, "Shhhhh…" Thomas nods.

"Very good, Britt-Britt. Now, come on. Let's get going." Thomas picks Brittany up, and quickly makes his way downstairs. He makes a quick stop, getting Brittany's pink, puffy jacket, and putting on her, along with her purple mittens. Then they head to the local furniture store.

* * *

 _ ***Furniture Store Outlet***_

"All right, love." Thomas puts Brittany in the child seat and buckles the straps. "Let's go get that big girl bed." He arrives at the section of toddler and young kids' beds, and unbuckles Brittany so she can look around and get a feel for which one is right.

A sales clerk comes over, smiling at them. "Hello, sir," She greets him. "My name is Lisa. Can I assist you with anything?"

"Hello. My name is Thomas, and this is my daughter, Brittany. We need to get her a bed because she has almost outgrown her crib. Could you help with that?"

"Of course. Is there any kind in particular you were looking for?"

"Well, we need one that she can get in and out of pretty easily. But also will provide her with enough protection, say around the edges and such, to prevent her from rolling out."

Lisa nods. "Okay, well, I think I could help you with that. If you'll just follow me right over here." She leads them to the side of girl toddler beds. "Is there any theme in particular you're looking for, maybe to match Brittany's bedroom?"

"Ah, yes. I have a picture of the nursery." He hands her a picture from his wallet.

Brittany's nursery has three full walls and a part of another by the door. The crib and changing table are centered in the room, and rocking chair sits to the right. Behind the crib is the largest wall. It's been painted with a pink barn, a dark blue pond that has three yellow ducks in it, and two brown horses and three sheep around it. The sky is light blue with clouds, and has Brittany's name in cursive writing above the clouds. The rest of the walls are light pink and has a wallpaper boarder of farm animals.

"Wow," Lisa says. "Her nursery is beautiful. Okay, well I see that you've stuck with the pink and white themes, the pink being the one with the different shades. So, what I would recommend is getting a white bed, just like the white crib, and maybe getting some sheets and bedding of the pink varieties." Lisa leads them to a bed.

Brittany's eyes light up. "Ooooh, Daddy, look! It has a slide!"

"Yes, I see that, baby. Why don't you try it out? Climb up the stairs there." While Brittany is trying out the bed, going up the two-step stairs and down the slide repeatedly, Lisa tells Thomas about the bed.

"Now, I know this bed is a little higher than what you want, but it does have a stepping stool to help her get in, and of course, she can use the slide to get out. This wood is a light color so it will still go with the room. The guard rails go all the way down the side, and they are high enough that she won't roll out. These four storage bens are great for Barbie dolls, toys, or books."

Thomas nods along and watches Brittany for a moment. She can get up the two steps very easily, and she seems to love the slide. The bed is small enough that it could be put up against the wall, and the guard rails will protect her during the night.

Brittany plops down on the bed and smiles at her father. And his mind is made up. This is the one they need. Thomas agrees, and Lisa shows him what all he has to do to pay for the bed and has someone help him load it up.

* * *

 _ ***Back at the house***_

When Thomas and Brittany arrive back at their house, he sees that Jessica's car is not in the driveway. She's either out getting more alcohol or drinking with friends. Either way, it will hopefully give him enough time to put her bed together.

After Thomas gives Brittany her snack of apple slices and milk, he moves the crib into his bedroom and puts her down for a nap, because he knows she was awake for a while entertaining herself before he came upstairs earlier, and she's starting to get restless.

By the time her nap is done though, it's lunchtime and then he puts the finishing touches on the new bed.

"Al right, Britt-Britt," He says, as he walks up the stairs holding her hand. "Now, Dada wants you to close your eyes. Can you do that for me, love?"

'''Kay, Dada!" Brittany puts her tiny hands over eyes, and Thomas picks her up, her giggling the whole time. He walks into the nursery and sets her down.

"Okay, you can open them now." Brittany opens her eyes and gasps.

"Oh, it's _pwetty_ , Daddy!"

"Yep. That's all for you, baby girl. Go and try it out." Brittany toddles over to her toys and one by one brings all her stuffed animals and even some of her storybooks to the bed. Thomas leaves after watching her for a few minutes. He heads to his bedroom to disassemble the crib and put it up in the attic for storage.

That night, Brittany's first time in her 'big kid' bed is actually a good one. She sleeps with every single one of her stuffed animals, all comfy and warm beneath her blankets.

All in all, getting Britt's first 'big kid' bed was a fun experience to be remembered for years to come.

* * *

 **So here is the next chapter. This and the next chapter are "filler" chapters. Like I said above, these "Brittany S. Pierce" background chapters are majorly important to what I am going to have happen to Britt in the future.**

 **Please review and let me know what you thought. :)**

 _ **Next Up: Another background chapter.  
Then: Christmas Day with the kids!**_

 **Update: I would like to address the _Guest_ reviewer who keeps bugging me about the girls' birthdays. Hanna's birthday is in December, not because I took it from the books, but because _I_ wanted it to be in December. This is _my_ story and they are going to be born in the months that I decide.**

 **Please, if the fact that Hanna's birthday being is in December and not March bothers anyone, either try to deal with it or simple don't read this story anymore. Thank you.**


	13. Brittany S Pierce (Merry Christmas)

**Disclaimer: I don't own PLL, Glee, their characters, or any toy or present listed in this chapter.  
Spoilers: None as of yet.  
Rating: Low-T for some language.**

 **Note: 'Mamma' is pronounced the same as 'Momma'.**

* * *

 **Reply to reviews: (chapters 9 & 10)**

 **SethuEmaya: Thanks for the review. I'm glad you liked it. :)**

 **Soso-princesse90: I'm glad you are enjoying this story. :) Thank you for the review.**

 **Leapyearbaby29: Thank you for the review. :) I will try my very best to get an Emison Hangout Day up soon. In the meantime, here is the second filler chapter and next up is Christmas day with our girls! :)**

 **Reply to reviews: (chapter 11)**

 **Guest: Yes, I know that you've told me Hanna's bday is in March not December. However, I am not using a Dec bday for her because of the book. It is because I want it to be in that month. Hanna is the third oldest with Aria being youngest in this story. Please respect that, and tell me what you've enjoyed about the chapters instead of trying to get me to change the birthdays.**

 **SethuEmaya: Thanks for the review! I'm glad these chapters take you back and make you want to be a kid again. You're the only one that voted, so I may introduce Maya into the story in 4** **th** **grade. And don't worry, I won't make her hurt Emily. :)**

* * *

 **Family 1: Thomas' older brother and sister-in-law:  
Benjamin (42) + Abigail (41). They have 4 kids; Lukas + Marcus "Luke/Mark" (17), Zachariah "Zach" (13), and Daniel "Danny" (9).  
Family 2: Thomas' older brother and sister-in-law:  
Alexander (39) + Elizabeth (38). They have three children; Noah (12), Gabriel "Gabe" (9), and Samuel "Sam" (5).**

 **Note 3: Thomas was a surprise baby. There is 14 years between him and Alexander.**

 **Enjoy. :)**

* * *

 _ **December 25** **th**_ ** _, 1996_**

* * *

 _ ***Pierce Residence***_

Bright and early on the 25th, Brittany wakes up. The night before her and her daddy made cookies just for Santa Clause. They carefully laid them out along with a glass of milk. This year will be the first year Brittany will know what to do when she gets a present as last year she was only 6 months old.

Brittany slides out of her bed, grabbing her favorite stuffed duck, and runs down the hall to her parents' bedroom.

"Daddy! Momma!" She clambers up beside their bed, bouncing on her feet happily.

Thomas sighs as he opens his eyes and looks at the clock. 7:03 a.m. is what it reads. He tries to quieten Brittany down so she doesn't wake Jessica up, but he can't catch her before she stands on her tiptoes and pats Jessica on the cheek, whispering,

"Momma! _Wade_ up! Momma, Momma, Momma! _Wade_ up!" Jessica groans as she opens her eyes and the hangover from the night before's drinking comes back full-force.

"Brittany, I swear to God, if you don't get away, I will whip your ass." Brittany frowns and she looks at her mammy. She doesn't know why her mammy says that; her little mind is one-tracked, and that track is all about Christmas right now, so she tries again.

Thomas hops out of bed, coming around to the other side. "But, Momma!" He hears Brittany say. "Momma, _wade_ up!"

When her mother just sighs, Brittany tries using the 'magic' word that helps her get her way most of the time. " _Peaze_ , Momma?" Thomas' heart breaks as he watches the happy expression fall from his daughter's face when her mother only mumbles the threat one last time, turns away, and goes back to sleep.

He sighs when she turns to him. "Is Momma mad, Daddy?" She asks and he picks her up.

"No, love," He assures because even though he knows the answer but doesn't want to tell Brittany the truth, not yet at least. "Momma just doesn't feel good." He explains as he heads out of the bedroom and down the stairs.

"She gotta boo-boo _inner_ tummy?" She continues to question, her mind tracked to her mother instead of Christmas.

"No, love. She has a boo-boo in her head." He sits her in her highchair and gets started on her Christmas breakfast; strawberries, bananas, and apples with chocolate milk. The only time of year, except for her birthday, that Brittany gets all three fruits combined is on Christmas, to make it extra special because she absolutely loves all of them.

"Oh," Brittany sighs. "Can I kiss it, Daddy?" She asks, remembering that her daddy always kisses her boo-boos to make them better.

"No, sweetie, I'm sorry. But I think Momma's gonna sleep her boo-boo off, okay?" Thomas sits the plate of fruit and sippy cup of chocolate milk down and Brittany's attention is immediately drawn to it.

"Here you go, love. Now eat up and then we can see what Santa brought in your stocking, okay?"

"'Kay, Daddy!"

* * *

 _ ***After breakfast. Around 9 a.m.***_

After breakfast is over and Brittany thoroughly goes through her stocking in which she finds princess stickers, princess temp. tattoos, and a new toothbrush along with some gummy candy, she moves over to the tree.

She finds a pink camo rocking chair that's just her size, a kitchen set that has a couple of pots and pans, a phone, and some play food, and a jumbo coloring book with jumbo crayons.

Next to those is baby doll, – the most expensive gift and one that will probably cause Thomas to really feel the loss of money in a couple of months – that comes with a hairbrush, a comb, a 'toothbrush', one change of clothes, a couple of doll 'toys', and a stroller and car seat. It even has a small diaper bag that carries all of that.

"Daddy, look!" Brittany beams as she holds up the doll she has already deemed 'my bay-bee'.

"I see, sweetheart. What is your baby's name?"

" _B'ittany_!" She says happily.

"Oh? But that's your name, love. Why don't you give baby another name?" Brittany frowns though and shakes her head.

"No, Daddy. I want her name to be _B'ittany_!"

"Okay. well, I guess if you really want it to be, her name can be Brittany." After playing for a while more, it's time for the yearly trip to the community center to give out gifts to children and families who aren't as financially stable of others are. Again, this will be Brittany's first year coming along with her dad.

Thomas gathers Brittany up and heads upstairs to get her dressed and then to get ready himself. He tells her to stay put when he sits her by the door. He then runs upstairs, to the bedroom where he has since given some Advil and water to Jessica.

He goes over to the windows, yanking the curtains apart and pulls the blinds up, blanketing the room in bright, mid-morning sunshine. Jessica groans as the sun shines right on her face. Thomas comes over, ripping the blanket from her body, not having to keep up the fake mask he has around Brittany.

"Get up, Jessica!" He growls, as he wife tries to cover with the sheet. He grabs that too and yanks it off.

"Get up, take a shower, and get dressed. Your _daughter_ would like to spend Christmas morning with her mother. We are going to drop the gifts off the Community Center. You have until we get back to make yourself presentable." He leaves the room and puts on a smile for Brittany. After getting her coat and mittens on, Thomas and Brittany head to the Community Center to drop the gifts off.

* * *

 _ ***12:30 p.m. Mary and Jackson Pierce's House***_

At exactly 12:30 p.m., Thomas enters his parents' home with his wife (who puts on her 'nice & polite' face for the in-laws), and his daughter, their only granddaughter.

"Nana! Paw-Paw!" Brittany squeals as soon as she is put down. She runs over to her grandparents, puffy jacket, mittens, hat and all.

"Hi, my baby!" Mary Pierce says as she wraps the toddler in a hug. Jack comes over and hugs her too, then Thomas helps her out of her clothes.

"Thomas, how are you, son?" Jackson asks his son while he wife takes Brittany into the kitchen to get a 'snack' (aka a cookie) before lunch. They are waiting for Thomas' older brothers, Alexander and Benjamin, to show up with their families.

"I'm as good as I can be, Dad." Thomas sighs. "Jess was out again last night. Can you believe it? Out drinking on Christmas Eve." He sighs again. He looks over at Jessica who's sitting on the couch, handing rubbing her temples, and tries to remember what about her it was that he fell in love with.

"I am going to find an AA meeting she can go to, and I am going to make her go. She loves Britt, I know she does, so maybe I can use her as an excuse for Jess to straighten herself out." He shakes his head. "Anyway, I don't to talk about that anymore. It's Christmas, and I want to spend it with my family. Can you respect that enough not to bring it up for a few days?"

His dad smiles and pats him on the shoulder. "Of course, son. Now, let's go get the table set. Your brothers will be here at any moment."

* * *

 **Later that night. Around 7:15 p.m.**

After everyone has lunch, the younger kids take their naps, the older kids and adults rest while watching TV, and, finally, the family eats dinner, it's present time.

"Okay, I want all the kids to help Grandpa and Uncle Alex to move the coffee table. Big kids help push the chairs back, little kids – that's Sam and Britt – you guys can help carry the cups to the kitchen and then get the books off the coffee table." Mary starts instructing everyone, and almost immediately, everyone listens because they are eager to get to the giant presents under the tree.

Once everyone is finished, they gather around in a circle in the floor, while the adults gather in the chairs and on the couch. Mary and Jack hand out a few presents and then sit down.

When everyone has their presents, they go in order from youngest to oldest, starting with Brittany. "Ooooh, look at the kitty!" She beams when she unwraps a stuffed animal cat.

"Wow, that's pretty, Britt-Britt. And it's so soft, too." Thomas takes a present from Mark next. She gets a play phone that makes noise and counts when the numbers are pressed.

"Hi!" Brittany tries to hold up the phone, box and all, to her ear.

"Let's put that up for a minute, love. Paw-Paw can open it up for you later." Brittany continues to open her presents, and she beams again when she gets to one from Luke: a little laptop she can play games on.

Danny scrambles up and grabs a present next. He hands it to his Uncle Thomas. "Gabe and I picked this out all by ourselves for Britt."

"Well, thank you very much, Danny." He shows the present to Brittany. "Look, Britt-Britt. It's your favorite color, a pretty pink."

"Pink!" Brittany grins. "Daddy, open this, _peaze_!" He helps her open it and smiles at what he sees. It's a picture frame that has 'family', 'love', and 'forever' inscribed on the frame, and in it is a family photo of everyone from the past summer when they had their yearly family portrait taken.

"It's so she can always know what we look like," Gabe explains. "Even when we are _allll_ the way in California."

"Thank you, Danny, Gabe. It's very pretty." He turns it towards Jessica who's sitting beside him. "Isn't this pretty, Jess? We can hang it in Britt's room."

"My _woom_ , Momma!" Brittany agrees and Thomas smiles.

"Yeah, it's pretty, Brittany." She says in a monotone voice, and Thomas sighs. He decides not to dwell on his wife's attitude, instead focusing back on Brittany.

Finally, Britt gets through all of her presents, and the other kids start on theirs. "Daddy, look!" Brittany holds up a pink cup from her princess tea set.

"I see, baby," Thomas gets down in the floor and picks up a plate. "What do you have to drink, Britt-Britt? Is it tea?"

"No! It's milk!" Brittany smiles.

"Oh? Well, is it white milk or chocolate milk?"

"It's _tock'clete_ milk." After a few minutes, Brittany gets bored of playing tea party. So she grabs her new baby doll, the one Santa got her, and goes over to where Mary and Jack are watching their grandsons play with all their new toys and gadgets.

"Nana! _Bay-bee_!" She holds up Brittany.

"Wow," Mary smiles. "That's a pretty doll you have there, Britt. Where did you get that at?"

"Santa!" Brittany answers happily. She hands the doll over and goes to the stroller that's in the corner. She gets the diaper bag and brings it over, getting out the bottle and comb.

"Are you going to feed your baby, Britt-Britt?"

Brittany nods. "She _hun'gee_."

"Oh, she's hungry. Well, you better feed her then. Do you want Nana to show you how to hold your baby?" Mary shows her how to hold the baby, and she has a blast playing with it. And around 9:30, in the middle of watching _It's a White Christmas_ with the family, Brittany falls asleep in her grandfather's arms.

All in all, Brittany had a wonderful Christmas, and for once, Jess did not ruin it for the family.

* * *

 **So, here is the next chapter. This is kind of my early birthday present to you guys. :) It'll be a while before we see Brittany again.** **Tomorrow is my birthday (woo!) and any reviews will be like presents to me, so give me lots of 'em! :)**

 ** _Next up: Christmas day with our girls!_**


	14. A Puppy for Christmas ('96)

**Disclaimer: I don't own PLL, its characters, or any of the presents listed here.** **  
** **Spoilers: None as of yet.** **  
** **Rating: K+**

* * *

 _ **Christmas Day. 1996**_

* * *

 ** _*Montgomery Residence*_**

At 7 a.m. sharp on Christmas morning, 4-year-old Mike Montgomery wakes and immediately runs to his window to look outside. He grins as he little eyes dance around the yard, watching giant snowflakes fall to the ground.

Mike turns and dashes out of the room, straight to his big sister's bedroom. He clambers up onto the bed and starts bouncing on his knees.

"Ari! Wake up! Its _Cwistmas_! Wake up, wake up, wake up!" He puts his face right up against hers as she opens her eyes and frowns.

"Mikey," She grumbles. "What're you doin'?"

"Sissy! It's _Cwistmas_! And it's snowin'!" At the mention of Christmas and snow, Aria pops to sitting position, knocking Mike down momentarily.

"Mikey!" She grins, her mood doing a 360°. "It's Christmas! Race you to mommy and daddy's room!" Mike's eyes light up as he jumps off the bed and both 6 and 4-year-old scramble to make it out of Aria's bedroom, down the hall, and to their parents' room first.

Their clamber up on each side of the bed, waking their respective parent. Yells of "Mommy, Daddy! Wake up!" and "It's Christmas! Let's see if Santa came!" and from Mike, "It _snowed_!" are heard as they all make their way downstairs and over to the big, lite-up Christmas tree.

* * *

 _ ***Around 10:45 a.m.**_ ** _Hastings Residence*_**

It's around 9:15 a.m. when Veronica Hastings gets a phone call from Ashley who had gotten from Ella saying she'd gotten a call from Pam. Everyone wanted to know when the big present would arrive and when would be a good time to come over.

Veronica said the present will be arriving at 11:30 sharp, and everyone should arrive 10.15 minutes early. The family lunch will be between 12:30 and 1:00 p.m. That would give all the kids enough time to see what Santa brought them at their individual house, and to have breakfast with their own families.

When everyone arrives, they shed their coats, mittens, and hats and head to the living room. In order to make this first Christmas the girls spend together authentic, the other parents decided that the kids could come over in their pajamas.

Every child has some sort of matching footie pajamas on; matching red ones with reindeer for Hanna and Emily, green ones with Christmas trees for Melissa and Spencer, light blue ones with snowmen and snowflakes for Alison and Courtney, and blue ones with penguins for Aria and Mike.

"Hi, Spence!" Emily grins as she runs towards her friend. "Merry Christmas!"

"Hi, Emmy! Merry Christmas!" Spencer says back.

Aria and Hanna come running in next, Ella and Ashley behind them. They throw their arms around their respective "other halves".

"Merry Christmas, Emmy!" Hanna shouts at the same time Aria squeals, "Merry Christmas, Spencie!"

"Come see what Santa left me!" Spencer says excitedly as she pulls the girls over to the tree. She pulls a suitcase looking box over and gets out a few things. A fancy looking pen with a notebook, a small phone, and sunglasses.

Emily holds up an ink pad, paint brush, and some sheets of sticky tape and paper. "Oooo…what this, Spence?" Spencer takes it and shrugs after a moment.

"I dunno. Daddy!" Peter comes over and she hands it to him. "What is this?"

"Well, this is a fingerprint collecting kit. You put this dust here," He holds up a tiny bag that holds what looks like tiny pencil lead shavings. "on something that has a fingerprint. Then you take this tape and put it over the dust, and then you put it here on this notebook, right here on this blank spot." Once he demonstrates on a glass with Emily's finger, the girls have fun "collecting" their prints.

After a few minutes, Spencer points to a jacket with a hat hanging on the staircase beside the tree. "Look, guys! I even have a spy jacket and a hat!" The girls get dressed in their spy outfits Santa had left them, and then they gather their walkie-talkies Santa left in each of their stockings.

"Mom! We're going to the barn to play with our spy stuff!" Spencer calls as she and the girls race out the door to the barn.

"Wait just a minute, girls!" Veronica calls back and everyone pauses on the porch. "Peter, they need to stay in until the _d-o-g_ gets here." She months the letters of _dog_ so she doesn't spoil the surprise.

"Oh, that's right." He pushes the door open and talks to the girls. "Girls, come inside for just a moment. Your Auntie 'Ronica has a surprise for you."

"But, Dad, we want to go play spies in the barn"

"I know, sweetie. But mom has something for you guys." The girls come in, sitting on the couch while Veronica goes to get a box out of the closet. The front door opens and a few seconds later, Alison, Courtney, and Jason come running in followed by Nanny Mary.

Jason goes straight to the big kids, Melissa and Luke, while Ali and Court run over to where the little girls are sitting on the couch.

"Merry Christmas, Ali!" Emily says as Hanna and Aria greet Courtney.

"Merry Christmas, Emmy! Merry Christmas, Spence!" The little blonde grins.

"Merry Christmas, Ali."

"Okay, girls." Veronica comes in with a bag that has several small boxes. "Honey, can you carry this while I grab my jacket?" She hands the bag off to Peter and she and the other adults get their jackets.

Once everyone is dressed, they head to the barn. "Okay, girls. Are you ready for your surprise?"

"Yes!" The girls chorus, and Veronica opens the door, ushering them inside. Sitting obediently under the mini tree that is a tiny Golden Retriever, also known as Daisy, with a big red bow around her neck.

"All right, girls, you can open your eyes now." Peter says as he sets the bag on the counter. The next few seconds are filled with excited squeals and screams of joy.

"Mommy, Daddy! Santa _did_ get me a puppy!" Spencer exclaims excitedly, as she and the girls take off towards the tree. "Hannie, look! It's Daisy!"

"Wow!" This time it's Alison. "Santa _is_ real! And he brought you a puppy! Hi, puppy!"

"Spencie, what's her name?" Courtney asks as she falls to her knees and Daisy jumps up, licking her in the face.

"Her name is Daisy! And watch what kind of tricks she can do!" Spencer turns to Veronica and Peter. "Mom, Dad, does she have any toys?"

"Well, Santa left this bag of presents for you guys. Why don't you come open them up and see what he left?" The girls scramble over to the couch, where they sit and each get a present from the bag. Then they race to open it.

"Oh, cool! A pink collar!"

"Look, now we can walk her on her leash!"

"Wow! She got _matching_ bowls for food and water, and they have her name on them!"

"Cool! A squeaky ball and bone, and a rope bone!" This is Emily, who squeezes the toy and giggles when Daisy gives a bark in response.

"Awesome!" Alison holds a box and shakes it. "Now we can give her treats!"

"Oh, Spence, look!" Hanna holds up a box. "Now she can look like Santa!" It's a doggy outfit in the form of a Santa suit with a matching hat.

"Mamma, this is so cool!" Spencer grins. "Can we take Daisy outside to play?"

"Yes, but come in and get dressed, okay? Everyone needs to get their jackets, mittens, and boots on." The girls race to the main house, getting dressed, opening up the toys, collar and leash, and then everyone runs outside to play.

* * *

 _ ***In the yard***_

"Come on, Daisy! Let's play fetch!" Spencer yells as she comes running over with Daisy's new rope bone.

"Guys, watch what she can do!' She hands the toy to Hanna.

"Daisy, sit!" The girls ooh and awe when she obeys. "Good girl! Now, fetch!"

"That's so cool, Hanna!" Emily shouts. "Can I try next?"

Yeah! Here. You hafta say 'sit, Daisy.' then tell her 'good girl'. Then tell her to 'fetch'!"

"Here, Daisy!" Emily calls. "Sit, Daisy. Good girl! Okay, now, go fetch!"

"Yay! Good girl, Daisy!" Emily cheers. "Okay, now it's Ari's turn!"

"Oh, I know what we can do!" Aria run over to a spot of smooth, untouched snow and lays down. "Let's see if we can teach her how to make a snowangel!' The girls run over, with Daisy following. She gives a loud 'woof' when everyone lays down in the snow.

"Daisy, Daisy!" Alison shouts. "Watch me!"

Daisy starts pawing the snow, woofing when it gets all wet and cold.

"Look!" Courtney calls out. "My angel has feet and hands!"

"Daisy, Daisy, come here!" Melissa calls out. The little pup runs over to her, hyper and excited. "Let's see what you can do. Can you sit? Sit, Daisy." When she obeys, Mel gives her a nice rub on the head. "Good puppy, Daisy. Now, can you lay down? Lay down, Daisy, lay down."

"Good girl!" She turns to Luke and gives him the rope bone. "Luke, throw the bone and see if she'll bring it to you."

Lucas throws it and Mel and Jason cheer Daisy on as she has a hard time picking it up from in the snow.

"Good girl, Daisy!" Melissa hands Jason the toy. "Here, Jas. Now you throw it."

After the kids get tired of playing fetch, they begin a race, each going against the little pup.

"Okay, first is Spencer, then Hanna, Aria, Emily, Courtney, and Alison!" Melissa calls out.

"Hey! Why do I have to go last?" Alison huffs.

"Oh, come on, Alison!" Jason calls back. "Why can't you just be nice for once?"

"Yeah, Ali!" Spencer agrees. "Just be nice for once!" Alison just rolls her eyes and stomps toward the porch. The other kids line up, giving Daisy instructions.

The next 25 minutes are spent by both the younger and older kids racing Daisy around the yard until all 10 kids are absolutely exhausted and starting to turn into popsicles.

* * *

 _ ***That night after presents, dinner, etc.***_

After an exhaustingly long day, the adults gather their kids and the presents, and head home to their respective houses. Around 9:30 p.m., Peter and Veronica put in _It's a Wonderful Life_ as it is tradition to watch as family on Christmas day.

Melissa, Spencer and Alison, Courtney and Jason, who are staying the night because they only live next door, are spread throughout the living room.

Mel and Jason are at the table, putting together some Lego toys they received earlier while the younger girls are putting together a glow-in-the-dark race track that they can then put their batter-operated cars on and watch them go round and round and round.

Peter and Veronica have decided to just let the kids wear themselves out, knowing that eventually, whether they'll actually be in the bedrooms or just on the floor with pillows and blankets, they will all be asleep.

"Well, did you girls like what Santa brought you?" Peter asks.

"Yeah!" Spencer beams. "I'm so happy Santa brought us a puppy! And that he got Daisy some presents too!"

"I'm glad you all had a wonderful Christmas, and that you enjoyed your presents."

All in all, the kids all had a blast today. They got to play with Daisy and watch _How the Grinch Stole Christmas_ , and their first Christmas spent together was truly wonderful.

* * *

 **Well, here it is! Review and let me know what you thought! :)**

 **Don't forget to let me know what age/grade you want Maya to enter the story at. I have one asking for 4th grade, but let me know what you want, otherwise it will be then.**

 ** _Up Next:_ _Martin Luther King Kr. Day._ Prompt for: _Silver-Infinite_.  
** ** _Then: Spencer's 7th birthday_ \- Extended chapter from _It's Been a Long Time_.**


	15. MLK Jr Day ('97)

**Educational holiday prompt filler for** ** _Silver-Infinite._**

* * *

 **Disclaimers: I do not own PLL or the characters.  
Spoilers: None as of yet.  
Rating: T to be safe.**

 **Note: The speeches/papers are in italics. Any words that are broken up by dashes are words that the kids sound out as they read their papers.**

 **Enjoy! :)**

* * *

 _ **January 12th, 1996**_

* * *

 _ ***Ms. Hendricks' 3rd**_ ** _grade History Class*_**

"Okay, class, now this week we have been learning about Martin Luther King Jr." Ms. Hendricks says. "And since we are out of school Monday, you guys are going to give your _Equality/Tolerance_ papers, and your _I Have a Dream_ speeches today."

She glances around the room. "Who wants to go first?" Melissa's hand shoots up, and Ms. Hendricks calls on her. "Melissa, come on up, sweetie."

"Now, go to the front of the class…yes right there, and face the others. Be sure and speak nice and loud so the kids in the back can hear you, okay?"

"Okay, Ms. Hendricks!"

"All right. Whenever you're ready, Melissa." Melissa takes a deep breath and begins reading her paper.

 _"This week, we have learned about Martin Luther King Jr. and about tolerance and treating others equally._

 _I have decided to do my paper over treating each other equally, and my friend, Caleb Rivers. Caleb is a foster child. That means he does not live with the mom and dad that are his bio-logi-cal parents. I am not a foster child. I live with my bio-logi-cal parents._

 _Even though Caleb is different, and lives with his foster family instead of his biological family, I do not treat him differently. If he needs help with a math problem, then I still help him. If he ask to play a game on the playground, then I will play with him._

 _When I do these things, I am treating him equally as the kids who are not in foster car. I do this because he is my friend, and it does not matter to me that his is a foster child._

 _All in all, this week Martin Luther King Jr. has taught me that no matter what color a person's skin is, or if they live in foster care or with their biological family, you need to treat them with equ-al-lity. And even if they have trouble learning the same things as others, you need to treat them with respect and equ-al-lity."_

As Melissa comes to a stop, Ms. Hendricks prompts the kids to clap. "That was a very nice speech, Melissa. Why don't you lay your paper in the basket, and then pick a prize of the treasure chest?"

"All right, who wants to go next?" Lucas raises his hand this time. "Okay, Luke, come on up. Remember what I told Melissa, speak loud and clear, all right?"

Okay, Ms. Hendricks." Lucas takes a breath also, and begins his speech.

 _"I have decided to do my paper over Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech._

 _I also have a dream. My dream is that one day I will become Hall Monitor. I want to become Hall Monitor so I can make the halls a friendly place for everyone. When I am a Hall Monitor, I will make sure the older kids are not allowed to push other kids down, or knock their books out of their hands._

 _When I am Hall Monitor, I will make sure that all of the new kids will have a buddy walking with them, so they can show them where their classrooms or the bathrooms are. I will also make sure that kids who don't have a lot of friends and are called "loser" or other mean names will be taught how to stand up for themselves, and what to say to their bullies._

 _I will make sure that the bullies get in trouble for what they do. I will have the bullies go through our school's "no bullying" talks, where they learn about how their mean words or how them pushing other kids down affects those students. They will have to think about how they would feel if that stuff happened to them._

 _All in all, when I am Hall Monitor, I will try my best to make the halls a better place. I have learned about equality, tolerance, and that Martin Luther King Jr. wanted a world where people wouldn't get treated differently because of their skin color, where they come from, or who their family is."_

The rest of the class have similar speeches and papers. And they all go home today with a little more knowledge of just exactly who Martin Luther King Jr. was.

* * *

 **So here is a prompt for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I'm sorry for the wait. There were a line of storms that came through Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning and they knocked out my WiFi. But, it's back. I hope you liked it! Review and let me know what you thought. :)**

 **Next Up:** _ **Extended version of Spencer's 7th birthday/sleepover**_ **.  
Then: _Big Sister, Little Brother (Aria/Mike sibling day)_**


	16. Spencer's 7th Birthday & Sleepover

**Updated on April 18th, 2017. Switched Alison/Courtney's age to: 7 years old.**

 **Updated on April 18th, 2017. Switched Spencer's birthday to: April 11th, 1990**

* * *

 **Prompt: Extended version of Spencer** **'** **s 7** **th** **birthday from** ** _Been a Long Time_** **.**

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I do not own PLL, it** **'** **s characters, or any of the birthday presents listed.  
Spoilers: None  
Rating: T for language.**

 **A/N: The girls are all in 1** **st** **grade and the big kids are in 3** **rd** **grade.  
A/N 2: This does have a small part where Alison teases Hanna about her weight, but it** **'** **s short and will be dealt with.**

 **Note: I know that** _ **Home Alone 3**_ **came out in December of 1997, but for this flashback, it came out on DVD way earlier than that.**

 **Note 2: So! Since I last posted this as a flashback, the girls did not have Daisy as a pet as they do now. She** **'** **s not really going to be in this chapter much; she is going to be outside with Melissa, Caleb, Toby and Lucas.**

 **Note 3: Emily** **'** **s** _ **Gameboy**_ **in this chapter is the** _ **1996 Gamboy Pocket.**_

 **Enjoy! :)**

* * *

 **Big kids: 9 years old.  
Little kids: 6-7 years old.**

* * *

 _ **March 25** **th** **, 1997**_

* * *

 _ ***Marin household***_

"Mamma! Hurry up!" 7-year-old Hanna Marin shouts from the bottom of the staircase. "I'm gonna miss Spence's birthday!"

Ashley just rolls her eyes good-naturally as she comes down the stairs. "I'm sure Spencer won't let the party start until everyone gets there, sweetie. Now, do you have everything you need? Pajamas, Mr. Bear, tooth brush and an outfit for when you go to town tomorrow?"

"Yes, Mommy. I have everything in my sparkly, pink sleepover bag." Ashley nods and grabs a bag from the kitchen counter that contains Spencer's birthday present. "Go tell bubba we're leaving and tell daddy goodbye."

After Hanna says her goodbyes, she, Luke and Ashley load up in the car. Lucas is going to keep Mel company so she'll have friends her own age to hang out with.

At Spencer's house, Aria is the one to open the door. She sees Hanna in a pair of blue jean shorts, a blue shirt and her hair in pigtails.

"Hi, Hanna!" Aria greets. At the sound of one of her favorite person's name, Daisy comes running over. She's decked out in a puppy-size party hat.

"Hi, Daisy!" Hanna squeals. "How are you?" The puppy barks, jumping up and licking the blonde in the face. Hanna giggles.

Noticing another new person in the room, Daisy runs over to Ashley, obediently sitting, and wagging her tail, looking up at her. "Mamma, look! Daisy wants to say hi to you."

Ashley bends down. "Hi there, Daisy," She coos. "How are you?"

"Come on! We're paintin' pictures in the art room!" Aria says, taking Hanna's hand and pulling her to the doors to the backyard.

"Cool!" As Hanna and Aria take off through the yard to the Hastings' barn with Daisy following, Ashley steps inside the house to talk with Spencer's mom.

"Hello, Ashley," Veronica greets from where she is helping Spencer and Emily to gather the paints up.

"Hi, Auntie Ashley!" Spencer says happily and Emily waves shyly.

"Hey, sweetie. Happy Birthday; how does it feel to be a big seven-year-old?"

"It's so cool! I get to go to the barn all by myself now!" Spencer announces proudly. She had been thrilled when her parents told her that now that she was officially a big girl, she could go to the barn by herself as long as she set the timer in there for 15 minutes and came to check in when it went off.

"Wow! I guess you really are big girl then." Ashley watches the younger smile and run off with Emily across the yard.

After gathering all the paints and brushes, Melissa, and her friend from school, Caleb Rivers, help bring them out.

* * *

 _ ***In the barn with the little kids***_

In the barn, Melissa and her friend Caleb, help the girls set up in the paint corner. They are several rolls of oversized paper and three long tables.

"Okay, I want you guys to line up and then Mel and me a will cut the paper." Caleb instructs and the little girls line up, Spencer going first since she is the birthday girl. After getting their paper, Melissa hands out the watercolors.

"Thank you, Mel!" Spencer says and Melissa smiles at her younger sister. "Thanks, Cal!"

"Mom said she'll bring out cookies and milk later and not to make a mess with the paints."

"we're going outside with Luke and Toby, and we'll take Daisy so she doesn't make a mess, okay?" Mel tells them.

"Okay, Mel! Thank you." Spencer smiles and the older kids head outside where Toby has just arrived and is talking to Lucas out on the concrete slab.

"Hey, Toby! Come meet our new puppy!" Mel shouts as said puppy runs over to boy she's never seen before. Toby grins as he bends down to say hello.

The little kids are divided up into groups of threes; Spencer, Aria and Alison at one table, and Emily, Hanna and Courtney at the other one.

"What are you gonna draw, Emmy?" Hanna asks as she dips her brush in the sky-blue paint and spreads it on her paper. Aria begins drawing a picture of her family, first using a pencil to sketch the drawing then she paints over it with different colors.

"I'm gonna draw a picture for my Daddy. He might be comin' home for his birthday this summer!" Emily says happily, causing the other girls to beam.

"Cool! Can I draw one for your daddy too?" Emily nods and goes back to painting a picture of her and Wayne underneath a rainbow.

"Why would Mr. Wayne want your dumb drawings, Hanna?" The little blonde asks in a snobby voice making Emily snap her head toward the other table where Spencer, Alison and Aria are.

"Alison!" She says. "Don't be a meanie to Han. My daddy says he likes her pictures."

Alison just rolls her eyes, a habit she started at two and a half and had mastered by age three. "Whatever." She mumbles, as she stabs a spot of paint on the palate with her brush.

"I think Hanna's pictures are pretty, Ali!" Courtney pipes up. "Emmy, can I draw a picture for your daddy, too?"

"Yeah!" Emily's face lights up and she beams. "Oh, I know! Why do we _all_ make a picture for daddy? That way he can have seven new pictures to take back with him!"

"Yes! I'm going to draw a picture of Uncle Wayne pushing me on the swings!" Courtney grins. She hops off the stool and runs to the art corner where they have all kinds of markers, colored pencils, crayons, and other things.

The girls paint and draw for a while before Veronica brings in cookies and milk just as promised.

"Okay, girls. Here is your snack." She sets a glass of milk out for each girl and then puts a plate of chocolate chip cookies down on each table. "After this, it be will rest time and then we can grill the hamburgers and hot dogs."

"And then we can have cake, ice cream and presents?" Spencer asks excitedly.

"That's right, birthday girl. Then it's time for you cake and ice cream and presents. And Meemaw and Papa will be here later too."

"Yes!" Spencer pumps her fist in the air. The little girl absolutely loves when her grandparents visit.

Veronica leaves the barn and heads back to the house to finish decorating the living room. Hanna reaches over and grabs another cookie, something Alison had been watching he do for the past few minutes.

"Careful, Han," The little girl warns in the same snobby tone she had used earlier. "You sure you want to eat that many cookies? That's a big number that you already had. You don't want to get fatter, do you?"

Emily, finally having enough of Alison being mean to her friend, snaps at her, "Alison! If you keep being mean, I'll let Hanna play on my Nintendo and not you!" At the same time Spencer shouts,

"Ali! That was mean! Say you're sorry or I'm gonna tell my mom and dad on you!" Alison just sticks her tongue out at the taller brunette.

"Whatever, Spencer! Go be a tattletale; I don't care! I don't wanna be at your stupid party anyways! My mom made me come!"

"Fine! I will go get her." Spencer slides off the stool and goes over to the other blonde. "Come on, Hanna-Banana; we'll go get my Mommy and she'll make everything better. Okay?" Hanna nods and slides off her stool also. The three little girls, Hanna, Spencer and Aria, leave the barn and head back over to her house.

Once they are gone, Emily turns to Alison, furious. "Why did you hafta say that, Ali!" The little girl shouts. Most people would say Emily is usually shy and quiet around her friends/family and strangers. And that's true most of the time; but when someone says something hurtful to her friends, that's when her protective side really shows.

Alison just shrugs, being stubborn as usual. Emily huffs and runs out of the barn to Spencer's house with Courtney following.

* * *

 _ ***Meanwhile, inside the house***_

"Mom! Daddy!" Spencer shouts as she and the girls enter the house.

"We're in here, sweetie!" Her mom yells back and they follow her voice to the dining room.

"What's the matter, baby?" She asks and then, upon seeing Hanna's tear-stained face asks, "Hanna, sweetie, what's wrong?"

"Alison was bein' mean to me." Hanna sniffles. "She said I'd get fatter if I eat the cookies." Veronica sighs and stands to give Hanna a hug. After making sure she is okay, she goes to the phone and dials Mrs. D's number.

While they're waiting, Emily and Court get to the house. "Hannie, are you okay?" Courtney asks the shorter blonde. "I'm sorry my sissy is being mean to you."

Hanna sniffles and returns the hug. "It's okay, Courty."

When Jessica arrives, she looks less than happy. "All right, Alison. Can you please tell me what is wrong, and why Auntie Veronica called me over here?"

Alison huffs, crossing her arms. "It's a dumb reason! I wasn't even doing anything wrong!"

"Yes, you did!" Hanna cries. "You called me fat! You said I didn't need to eat more cookies 'cause then I'd get more fatter!" Jessica blinks in surprise, turning towards Alison.

"Alison Lauren! Is that true?"

"No! Hanna is lying!" Alison huffs, stomping her foot harder.

"No she is not!" Emily speaks up. "You _sayed_ that to her and you were being really mean to her, Ali. You even _sayed_ that her pictures were dumb and my daddy wouldn't like them!"

Jessica turns to Alison and holds up a hand when the mini-blonde goes to protest again. "Alison Lauren Dilaurentis, you should be ashamed of yourself! Hanna is your friend; why would you say such mean things to her?" When Alison refuses to answer, she turns and waves Kenneth over.

Alison's eyes widen. She knows she doesn't get away with these things with her father. Her dad takes away things she likes to do, like her TV privileges and staying up late on weekends. She can't hold her breath and get away with what she wants like she can with her mom.

"Alison," Kenneth starts. "I'm very disappointed in you. Now, say goodbye to your friends and let's be heading home." Alison huffs out a goodbye, and then Kenneth steers her outside while Jessica apologizes to Veronica, Peter, and the girls.

"Courtney, honey, you be good and remember to listen to Auntie Veronica, okay?"

"Okay, Mamma! Bye!" Courtney waves to her mom as she leaves. Veronica gives Hanna another hug and explains to her that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the young girl's weight, and then they all head back to the barn.

Once there, the girls get back to drawing their pictures for Wayne. They all draw stick figures, except for Aria who draws an actual person, and then they draw their favorite things that Wayne does for them; going to the park, playing 'chase me', buying ice cream for the girls.

Soon though, it's time for the girls to go to the movie room for some quiet, resting time. Spencer puts in a princess movie and the girls all lay down on their own sofa or little pallet that stays in that room.

* * *

After their resting time is over, Veronica comes and gets the girls, telling them it is time for Peter to grill the hot dogs and hamburgers. Once everyone had eaten, Veronica sits Spencer on a special chair at the dining room table to open her presents.

The chair is decorated in streamers and has two 'Happy Birthday' balloons tied to it. It has been dubbed the 'birthday chair' ever since Melissa's 4th birthday.

"Okay, birthday girl." She hands Spencer a box. "Open mine and daddy's first, all right?"

Spencer tears into the paper and pulls out a beautiful charm bracelet just like the one Melissa is wearing.

"Cool! Mel, look! Now you and I match!" Melissa smiles at her younger sister.

"That's awesome, Spence! Now we both have one to wear."

"Okay, now it's Papa and I's turn." Julia Hasting says. She hands Spencer a box and the little girl opens it. The box contains three books that Spencer had really been wanting for a while. The books finish off the series, which Spencer had been reading.

"Awesome! Now I can finally finish the whole series of my books!" The little girl beams and throws her arms around her grandparents. "Thanks, Meemaw! Thank you, Papa!"

"You're very welcome, sweetie." James Hastings returns.

The girls go next. Aria, Emily, Courtney and Hanna each hand her a tiny box. After Spencer opens them all, she lays the items on the coffee table.

Aria had gotten her a book charm, Emily bought a pencil charm because Spencer loves the 'creative writing' time in class, Hanna got her an 'S', and Courtney an 'H' and 'J' charms.

"Do you like it, Spence?" Courtney asks. "Nanny Mary called Auntie 'Ronica and she said you didn't have your yet, so me Hanna decided to buy them for you!."

"Yeah, there cool, Courty. Thank you! Now I have all three of my initials." Spencer turns to the other girls. "Thank you guys! I really like the book, pencil, and 'S' charms!"

Hanna gives her a bag also. In it is a pretty blue shirt that Spencer had saw at the store and Hanna begged her mom to buy it as a present for her best friend. Emily hands her a box of chocolates that her dad brings home or sends in the mail every now and then.

Spencer parents and Melissa give her the last few presents. She gets some clothes for the summer, a few new dresses for church, and some new sandals. Spencer thanks her parents with a big hug.

"Thank you, Mommy! Thank you, Daddy! You got me the pink and white dress I wanted!"

"You're very welcome, baby. But I think daddy may have one more very special present for you." Veronica nods to Peter who goes out to the garage with James and Byron, (the girls' parents stopped by for dinner, cake and ice cream).

"Now, this is for all you girls. It's a present that goes in the barn." Peter and the boys bring in a box and set it in front of the couch. The girls all scramble over, with Mel and Caleb gathering around.

"I wanna open too!" Aria's three-year-old little brother, Mike, complains. "Mamma!" He whines and Ella lifts him up onto her lap.

"Sweetie, this is Spencer and the girls' present. This goes out in Ms. Veronica's barn. When it's your birthday, you'll get to open all your presents all by yourself." The three-year-old boy pouts and crosses his arms.

"No! I open too!" Aria pauses in tearing the paper off the box and looks at her brother annoyingly.

"Mikey, you can't open the present because it isn't yours. And you aren't acting like a big boy; you're bein' a baby. Are you a baby, Mikey?"

"No. I'm'ma a big boy!"

"Well then, show me you can be a big boy. Be nice and sit in Mommy's lap. Then we can have cake and ice cream."

Mike just sighs and leans back against his mother. He loves his big sister to death, almost as much as he loves birthday cake and ice cream. But, he also knows that his mommy and daddy will take away his favorite toy and make him sit in the 'calm down' corner when they get home if he keeps acting this way.

Besides, his sissy is right; he's a big boy, not a little baby.

Aria and the girls resume tearing the paper and finally they get it all off. It's a double-sided easel. One side is dry erase and magnetic for magnet letters, numbers and dry erase markers and the other side is a chalkboard with clips on the top to hold papers for painting.

"Awesome!" Hanna yells. "Now we have another and we don't have to share!" The girls already had one, from when Melissa was small enough to use it, but it is worn out, and Spencer received one for her 4th birthday. The girls still use them to today.

"Cool! Thanks, Mamma!' Spencer jumps up to hug Veronica while the other girls, gather around Peter.

"You're welcome, ladies." Peter says. Then he claps his hands. "Alright! Who's ready for some cake and ice cream?" The kids all cheer and run back over to the dining room table where James and Julia are with the cake.

"Okay, the birthday girl needs to sit down nice and still. Meemaw will light the candles. Then, everyone can sing 'Happy Birthday'."

Spencer sits in her birthday chair and James pushes her in. The girls gather around and Julia scoots the cake closer, lighting the seven purple sparkly candles.

"Ready Spence?" Spencer nods and they begin,

 _Happy Birthday to you.  
Happy Birthday to you.  
Happy Birthday, dear Spencer.  
Happy Birthday to you._

After they sing, Spencer blows out the candles. Then her Minnie Mouse cake is cut and pieces are handed out. With the cake is chocolate chip and vanilla ice cream. After they kids eat the cake and ice cream, Spencer talks Byron and James into putting together her new art easel.

* * *

Later that night, after the parents leave and Mel, Caleb, Toby and Luke retire to watch a movie upstairs, Veronica comes to the barn to see the girls stilling painting or playing with the chalkboard.

"Girls, it's just about bedtime. You all need to come inside, brush your teeth and then get your pjs on."

"Can we sleep out here, Mamma?" Spencer asks. "We have blankets for everyone in the Movie Room."

Veronica nods, glad that Peter had installed a working bathroom for the kids in the barn. "Sure, but come inside and get dressed and brush your teeth first, okay?"

The kids race each other across the yard and into the house. There, they all change into their marching pjs and brush their teeth.

"Goodnight, Mamma. Night, Daddy!" Spencer calls as she holds her favorite blanket and stuffed bear in her arms. The others girls all have their animals as well; Hanna has her bear, Aria has her stuffed pig and Emily has a little stuffed dog that her dad got her when she was almost two years old. Courtney has a brown, soft-furred cat.

"Happy Birthday, sweetheart. Sweet dreams girls." They call back. The kids go to the barn and gather in the Movie Room. Spencer turns on a movie and they all gather around on the couch that is in there.

Since it isn't too late, Peter makes the girls some popcorn and told them they have time for one movie before it is bedtime. Spencer turns on a movie she had received earlier that day when she got to open a present early.

Hanna grins. The girls settle in and begin to watch the movie, _Home Alone 3_.

"That's my favorite part!" Hanna says pointing to the part where the computer chip that the bad guys are after ends up in a toy car that is going through the airport security.

A few minutes later, Aria chimes in with, "I love that part!" referring to the part where the bad guys realize the toy car has been given to an eight-year-old boy named, Alex Pruitt.

"Yeah! That's funny!" Emily giggles.

Finally, the movie is over. The girls stack their bowls on the dresser and then climb into their beds. In the movie room, there are two sets of bunk beds and then two cots are set up. On this sleepover, Spencer and Emily, and Hanna and Courtney are sharing the bunk beds, with Aria on the cot.

Spencer turns on another movie for them to watch, this time while they are all falling asleep. Then she climbs back onto the top bunk.

"I put in _The Little Mermaid_ , Emmy." Spencer replies. "It's my favorite princess movie!"

"Yeah!" Emily replies. "I love _The Little Mermaid_ , too! I wanna be like Ariel when I grow up so I can swim with the fishies and the dolphin and sea turtles."

"Oh, that would be fun!" Aria says from her cot where she is laying.

The girls don't get far with the movie, only about halfway before Veronica comes to check on them, finding them all sound asleep. She turns the movie off and then covers everyone up before heading back to the house to go to bed herself.

* * *

 **So here it is! A lot is the same, but I added some parts and brought Courtney in. Review and let me know what you think!**

 **I haven't been getting many reviews. If this getting too boring, then you have to let me know. I can't make it interesting if I don't know what you guys would like to read about.**

 **Up next:** ** _Big Sister, Little Brother -_** **Aria & Mike have a sibling day.** **  
Then:** _ **3 part beach trip (summer '97)**_ **.**

 **Also! I have had two requests for when Maya should enter. One reader wants 4th grade, another wants 2nd grade.**


	17. Big Sister, Little Brother

**Disclaimer: I do not own PLL or the characters.** **I do own all characters not associated with the show.** **  
Spoilers: None  
Rating: K+**

 ** **Note: I have went back and forth with Mike and Aria's age differences. Aria is two years older than Mike. She'll turns 7 (April) a month before he turns 5 (May).****

 ** **Mike: 4 years old (going on 5).  
Aria: 6 years old (going on 7).****

 ** **Enjoy! :)****

* * *

 _ ** **April 13**** ** **th**** ** **, 1997****_

* * *

 ** _ _ ***Montgomery household. 10:00 a.m.***__**

Today is Aria and Mike's sibling day. They made pancakes with Byron for breakfast and are now doing a sensory project. They will make colored moon sand. Pam told Ella it was a big hit for Emily and her cousin Jacob, so Ella has decided to it with Mike and Aria since it is easy enough for both to help.

"Okay, Aria, Mikey, listen up. We need 8 cups of flour and two cups of baby oil." Ella starts out as soon as she has the needed ingredients. "Aria, you can help daddy measure out the flour for your bowl. And Mike, you can help me measure out the flour for your bowl."

"Okay, Mamma! Can I stir it? I'm good at that!"

"You can as soon as we get the flour in there." Once both bowls have flour and the oil, Ella shows Aria how to mix them together. Mike tries to copy his sister, getting a little messy so Ella slows him down a bit.

"Stir slowly, Mike. So you don't make a mess, all right?" Once the bowls are mixed, Aria has a pretty light shade of purple sand while Mike has dark green sand.

"Mikey, watch me." Aria takes some sand and spreads it on a cookie sheet. She then pats it down and then writes her name. "See? It A-r-i-a, which spells my name."

"Oh, can I do it, Mamma? I wanna write my name!" And Ella hands him an unsharpened pencil, letting him use it to make the letters.

"Watch, Mikey," Aria covers his hand with hers. "M…i…c…h…a…e…l…That spells Michael! That's your name."

"Nuh-uh. My name is Mike!"

"No," Aria shakes her head. She goes back to her own sand and presses some of it in her hand to make a soft, purple ball. "that's your __nickname__. But your name is Michael.

Mike huffs and crosses his hands. "No, Aria. My name is Mike." This time Aria huffs turning to her parents.

"Bud," Ella ruffles his hair. "Sister is right; your name is Michael, but people call you Mike as a nickname."

"Oh," Mike giggles. He squishes some sand between his fingers. "And Vincent."

"Yes, mommy and daddy call you Michael Vincent when you are trouble, don't we?"

"Uh-huh. You and daddy say 'Michael Vincent __Montgomerwy__!'" He says making Ella and Byron laugh.

"Can you write your whole name, Mikey? Like this…" Aria carefully uses her finger to make out her middle and last name next to __Aria__. "Can you read that?"

"Uh-huh! It says Aria __Mawie__ __Montgomerwy__."

"That's right, Mikey! Now, let's do your name. Do you want mommy or me to help you?"

"You!" Aria covers his hand again and together they spell out: __Vincent__ and __Montgomery__." Then Aria turns back to her own sand.

"Mikey, watch me." Aria says. Mike watches intently as Aria pats down some sand and then presses her hand into it, making a handprint. "You do it now, Mikey. Get some sand on the pan, like this…then pat it gently. Like when you pet Daisy."

"I hafta pet Daisy softly," He informs them. "So I don't hurt the puppy."

"That's right, bud. You have to be gentle with Daisy."

"Okay, Mikey, now take your hand and press down, like this." Aria shows him, helping him out a little. "Now, lift your hand up."

"Oooo," Mike says in awe. "Look, Mamma! My…my uh…-"

"-handprint, Mikey."

"My __handpwint__. It's __gween__."

"Yep! And what color is my print, Mikey?"

"Um…purple!" Aria praises him. She draws some shapes in her sand, and then in his, asking what it is each time.

"A __twiangle__ ….square…um, circle!…a star!"

"Let's make some letters. Do an __A__ , Mikey. Like this. Make a line, and another line, and then one more…good job! Now, make a little circle, like this, and give it a tail. And that's called a lowercase __A__. The other one is an uppercase __A__."

"I did it, Mammy! Mamma, Daddy, look!"

"You did do it. You're such a big boy." Ella kisses his forehead. "Now, Daddy and I are going to be in the living if you need us, okay?"

"Let's make a __B__ , Mikey. Make a line, like this…then make a curve and then another curve." Mike copies her almost perfectly. "Yes! Good job, Mikey." The two play for a few more minutes.

"Look, Aria," Mike grins. "I made a ball." He takes the cookie cutter -a snowman- and pats down a spot, making it smooth. Then he presses the cutter to it. "And I made a snowman. It's a _gween_ snowman." He giggles.

"You're silly, Mikey," Aria says. "Can you give your snowman some eyes and a smile? Use the pencil Mammy gave you." Mike picks it up, positioning it over the cut-out. "How many eyes does a snowman have, Mikey?"

"Two! One...two. And a smile." He draws a line best he can with an unsharpened pencil. "It's a happy snowman!"

"Nice job, Mikey." Mike beams at his sister's praise. "It looks wonderful." For next hour or so, Mike and Aria play with their sand. Aria helps Mike make some more letters, numbers and shapes and then they just mess around with their own sand.

Around 11:30, Ella comes back to the kitchen to make lunch while Byron finds some containers and helps them clear the table off. After lunch, Mike is sent for nap, and Aria is allowed some 'quiet time' where she plays with her stuffed animals and toys quietly in her room.

All in all, Aria and Mike's first sibling day where they were both able to completely participated has gone pretty well.

* * *

 **Please review! Let me know what you thought of this and if you want another Sibling Day soon.** **  
**

 ** _Next Up: 3-part summer beach vac.  
Then: 4th of July BBQ/Picnic_ _  
_ _After That:_ _2nd grade for the little girls; Emily's 8th birthday (subject to change)_**


	18. Pensacola Beach, Florida (pt 1)

_**Family vacation pt. 1 of 3**_

 **Disclaimers: I do not own PLL or the characters.** **  
** **Spoilers: None as of yet.** **  
** **Rating: K+**

 **Note: The first half of this chapter jumps around quite a bit. The second half is going to be part of their vacation.**

 **Friendly reminder: "Mamma" is pronounced the same as "Momma".**

 **Summary: The girls and their families head to Pensacola Beach, Florida. Plane ride and some time at the beach, along with some Little!Hannily and Protective!Little Emily.**

 **Big kids: 9 years old.** **  
** **Little kids: 5-7 years old.**

 **Enjoy!** ** _:_** **)**

* * *

 **Summer Vacation to Pensacola Beach, Florida.  
** **Friday, June 18** **th** **\- Friday, July 2nd** **1997.**

* * *

 ** _*Hastings household. 5:30 a.m.*_**

At around 5:30 in the morning on Wednesday, Peter and Veronica go upstairs to wake the girls up. The other parents and kids will be arriving in half an hour. Since the last day of school is this Friday, all the parents got together and decided the kids could skip the next couple days of school.

Everyone will get to the airport before the flight to have breakfast at the McDonald's that is there. They have a 7 a.m. flight to Pensacola, Florida that will be about 12 hours long including two stops to switch planes. They will arrive at the beach in the early evening.

Peter tells Melissa, who is playing with her Legos quietly, to get her suitcase and bring it downstairs. Veronica goes to Spencer's room where the little girl is asleep. "Spence, honey, it's time to get up."

Spencer sits up, yawning. "What time is it, Mamma?"

Veronica helps her out of bed and brings her to the bathroom to do a quick fix of her braid. "It's almost 5:30. You don't have to change out of your pjs since the flight will be so long, so just go get your shoes on, alright?"

After everyone is ready, Peter and Veronica make last-minute check-ups on things, while Mel and Spencer run outside where they meet up with Ali, Court and Jason. Since Jess and Kenneth couldn't come and Mary is spending some time with her own family, Peter and Veronica decided they would watch over them.

Jason and Mel take this time to go through their "surprise, carry-on" bags that all the kids received earlier, while Spencer does the same with Alison and Court.

* * *

 ** _*Airport. 6 a.m.*_**

Once everyone arrives at the airport and they check in, they head over to McDonald's to get some breakfast. Then they go to waiting area to hangout before it's time to board the plane.

"Mommy, are we going to the beach when we get there?" Hanna asks.

"I'm not sure, sweetie. We may be too tired to go tonight, but I promise we will go sometime tomorrow, okay?" Hanna nods, satisfied with that answer.

When it's time to board, the older kids are together in one row and a couple and their child agree to give up their seats so Aria, Spence, Court, Hanna and Ashley can be together.

After 3 and half hours of being on a crowded plane, it's time for the first stop. It is right at lunch time, so while they are waiting to board their second plane, everyone goes to get lunch. The next plane ride will be exactly 4 hours long, the stop lasting 1 hour and then the last plane ride is 2 hr. 45 minutes long.

By the time they are settled on their second plane, Mike, Alison and even Melissa are all in a timeout.

The adults understand that everyone is tired and just want to _be there_ already, and a 12+ hour flight with ten kids probably wasn't a good idea, but they still have to behave. So the kids in timeout get their goody-bags taken away until the seatbelt lights go off.

They get there, _finally_. The families stay in some beach houses. Veronica and Peter hand out the keys before deciding who will stay with whom. Veronica and Peter will have Courtney and Alison in a room with two singles. Jason, Luke and Melissa will stay in the room with a bunk bed and an air mattress

Ella and Byron will have Mike, Aria and Spencer in the room with a bunk bed and air mattress. And Ashley and Tom will have Emily and Hanna in a room with a bunk bed and Pam in a room with a single bed.

They all agree to just lounge around and rest a couple of hours before going out to eat, and agree to wait until tomorrow to go to the beach and start in on the activities.

* * *

 ** _*Saturday*_**

Today is a lounge around, be lazy kind of day. Everyone is going to chill on the beach after breakfast, have lunch down there and then come back to the houses to cool off for a few hours before going out to eat.

"Mom!" Hanna shouts as she and the rest of the kids take off towards the beach. "Look how _white_ the sand is! It's so pretty!"

"Wow," The rest of the adults catch up the kids, in awe of how pretty and _white_ the sand actually is. "I don't think I've ever seen sand so white before." Ashley comments. "Hanna's right; this _is_ pretty."

After everyone gets their floaties on and, just to be safe, lifejackets, the adults let them go. The little kids race off to a spot in the sand while Melissa, Luke and Jason run to the water. "Emmy, come on! Let's go build a sandcastle!"

The kids spread out among the sand and get work on their different sandcastles, digging holes in the sand or finding seashells.

"Em, look at this seashell," Hanna picks up a flat, ruffle shell.

"Ooo, it's pretty. See if you can hear the ocean in it." Hanna scrunches up her nose causing Emily to giggle.

"How do you do that?" Emily's eyes widen at that the question.

"You never listened to the ocean in a seashell before?" Hanna shakes her head and Em takes the shell from her.

"You put the open side up to your ear, like this." She brushes the blonde's hair from her ear and holds the shell up. "Do you hear that?" Hanna's eyes light up as she hears the roar of the "ocean" in the seashell.

"That's so cool!" Hanna beams. "Let's go show my mammy!" The two run off towards the towels and umbrellas set up by the adults who are not in the water or playing in the sand with the kids. They go over to Ashley who is talking with Pam.

"Mamma!" Hanna skids to a stop and bends down. "Mom, listen! You can hear the ocean in this seashell!" Hanna holds it up for Ashley who takes the shell and puts it to her ears.

"Wow. That's cool. Why don't you listen and see if you can hear anything else?"

"Like what?"

"Like a mermaid!" Emily answers happily. "See if you can hear a mermaid from deep down in the ocean!" Hanna holds up the shell to her ear

" _Hello, Hanna."_ Hanna's eyes widen at the voice and she spins around.

"Emmy! I know that was you!" Emily's eyes widen also and she looks (pretend) offended.

"It was not! I was showing Mammy my seashells. Wasn't I, Mamma?" She glances as Pam with a look that says 'agree with me even if I wasn't'.

Pam smiles at Emily before looking to Hanna. "Yep. Emily was showing me all the seashells you two found on the beach." Hanna eyes narrow but she seems to believe them so she turns to Ashley.

"Was it you that said that, Mom?" And Ashley shakes her head.

"No, sweetie. I was sitting right here watching you. Maybe you actually heard a mermaid talking to you." Hanna's eyes widen even more at that and she holds the shell back up to her ear.

"I only hear the ocean now." She pouts.

"That's okay, sweetie," Ashley tells her. "Why don't you and Emmy go see if you can find any more seashells?"

"Yeah, Han. Come on! Let's go see if we can find a sand dollar." The two girls run off towards the sand closer to the beach and immediately begin looking for more shells and sand dollars.

* * *

 ** _*Half an hour later*_**

Half an hour later the kids tire out from playing the sand or finding seashells, so the dads blow up some beach balls and let the younger kids play in the water with them.

Almost all of the kids, minus Jason who is snorkeling with Mel in the water, spread out down the beach to play with their balls.

"Emmy, get ready!" Hanna yells as she tosses the ball to Emily. The kids are playing a game with a beach ball. The goal of the game is to keep hitting the ball and not let it touch the ground (similar to the game with a balloon).

"Hit it, Emmy!" Spencer yells and the girls cheer as Emily hits it back to Aria. Aria jumps up and hits it over to Mike who misses It causing him to frown. Lucas picks it up and holds it out for the pouting preschooler.

"Here you go, Mikey. That try doesn't have to count. You can hit this time." And Mike does. "Yay! Good job, Mikey." The older boy praises him getting a grin from the boy.

The hit goes back to Emily who kicks it in the air over to Hanna. It continues like this for a while. Hanna to Emily. From Emily to Aria and back to Hanna. Then to Lucas who helps Mike again until it makes its way back to Spencer.

And the game goes on, and on, and on until Hanna is running to get it. She gets too close to another couple's beach towels and area, kicking up sand onto a gentleman's freshly made hamburger and knocking over his drink.

"Hey, kid!" The man yells loudly, getting Hanna's attention from the ball to him. "Watch what you're doing. You just kicked sand all in my food and spilled my drink!"

The yelling catches the attention of Emily, who was closest and was supposed to receive the ball next. She comes closer and stands next Hanna. "Hey, Han. Whatcha doin'?"

Hanna frowns at the man, unused to being spoken to in such a way. "I'm sorry, mister. I didn't mean to get sand in your food." That answers the question Emily thinks. And then she frowns also at the mean look on the man's face, which stays unchanged as he continues speaking.

"You know, if you were my kid, you wouldn't be running around like a hethern who is never supervised. You would get your ass busted and wouldn't get the pleasure of playing at the beach." Hanna's eyes widen at the man's use of a 'bad' word and the mention of being spanked. She's only gotten spanked on time, and it didn't hurt Hanna near as much as Ashley, who vowed to raise her children as someone who only need timeout and groundment as a punishment.

"Hey!" Emily interrupts, stepping in front of Hanna who now looks scared. "Don't talk to my friend like that! You're being very mean, mister. She said she was sorry about spilling your drink and getting sand in your burger." The man turns to Emily now and starts in her, telling her how disrespectful she is for entering a conversation that doesn't concern her.

Lucas, who had been watching the two talk to a man he's never seen before, runs up to them. He convinces them to come back over, and Emily immediately directs Hanna to Ashley and Tom. Lucas tells them what he saw, and Ashley turns to Hanna and Emily.

"Hey, girls. What was going on over there?"

"Auntie Ashley! That man was being mean to Hannie for no reason. He was yellin' at her and he said a bad word to her too. She accidentally kick sand in his food and spilled his drink."

"Em, can you tell us what exactly he said?" Pam asks as Ashley cuts a glaring look over at the offending man.

"No, Mamma, it was a bad word. I'm not supposta say it."

"I think it'd be ok just this once, sweetie," her mom reassures her. "We need to know what the man said to you guys, because it may have been something that he needs to be spoken to about."

Emily sighs as she looks at Hanna who she has an arm around protectively. Spencer, Aria, Alison and Court have arrived now and they listen in as Luke tells Mel and Jason what has happened.

"He said 'if Hanna was his kid, she would get her'" She pauses and glances around nervously. Pam nods for her to continue. "…'she would her ass busted, and wouldn't get to play in the sand.' He also said that she 'wouldn't be running around like a-a uh, a heeth-heeth something, who is never supervised.'"

Ashley cuts her eyes over at the man who is about 10 yards away. She goes to stand up, but Tom stop her. "I´ll go, honey." He stands up, dusting himself off. "I want to find out what the man´s problem is with us letting our children have fun.

Tom heads over to the man and who he assumes is the man's wife while Ashley turns back to Hanna. "Sweetheart, are you ok now?"

Hanna nods. "Yeah, I am. That man was just being mean. I said I was sorry for getting sand in his food and for spilling his drink, but he started yelling at me instead of saying it ok." Ashley nods to that.

"Okay, well Daddy is going to talk to the man about what he said." She tells her before addressing the whole group of kids now gathered around them. "Do you guys want to head inside, or do you all want to stay here for a little bit longer?"

The children decide to stay a little longer. Everyone rallies around in order to cheer Hanna up, and a few of the adults talk them out in the water to look for seashells. After about 2 more minutes, the kids start to hot, tired, hungry, and cranky, so they load up and head back to their houses.

* * *

 **Hey, guys! I know it hasn't been a month yet, but I thought, 'hey, why not?' So here is a surprise chapter!**

 **IMPORTANT. PLEASE READ: (** **This is not me begging for reviews, but rather, telling you what is happening):**

 **(1): When I first started this story, all of you were telling me how you liked it and how good the chapters were, etc. That hasn't been happening lately, and I would really love to hear your thoughts on this again.**

 **(2): I need to know if this story is still interesting to you. I have it where you all will read for a while with the kids at a young age. If you DO NOT want this, please TELL ME SO. I am writing for YOU not me. If this isn't what YOU want to read, you gotta tell me! If you want to get on with it, and read about them in high school, you have to tell me (please and thank you :).**

 **All right, the rant is over. PLEASE review. Let me know what you thought. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, etc. PM me and we will talk about them.**

 ** _Up Next: Sparia hangout day_ (I promise) (pt. 2). _  
Then: Exploring Pensacola_ (pt. 3).  
 _After That: 4th of July BBQ/Picnic._  
**


	19. Sparia (1)

**_Part 2 of vacation: Sparia Hangout Day (1)_** **.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own PLL or its characters.  
Spoilers: None as of yet.  
Rating: K+. Kid-friendly chapter. :)**

 **Spencer: 7 years old.  
Aria: 7 years old.**

* * *

 _ **Saturday, June 21st, 1997**_

* * *

Bright and early on Saturday, Aria and Spencer wake up at nearly the exact same moment. Aria jumps off the top bunk of her and Spencer's bunk beds and tackles Spencer who is on the bottom.

"Spencie! It's our day today!"

"Yeah, I know! We're gonna do all kinds of cool things!"

Aria jumps up pulling the taller girl with her. By some miracle, Mike had slept through their excitement. He is still wrapped up in stuffed animals and blankets over on the air mattress.

The two girls skid out of the room and down the hall to where Ella and Byron are asleep. "Mommy! Daddy!" Aria's calls are mixed in with Spencer's "Auntie Ella, Uncle By!" as the two scramble up onto the bed.

Ella and Byron wake up when the girls pounce on them. They each get up, grabbing a girl and hauling them out of the room, both girls giggling.

They shuffle into the kitchen and Byron starts a pot of coffee. Ella pulls her hair into a messy, loose ponytail before getting the ingredients out for breakfast.

"All right, girls," Ella says as both 7-year-olds climb into a barstool. "We are going to have breakfast first, okay? Then, you two need to go get ready since it will take daddy and me longer than you to get ready."

Mike comes out of his bedroom while Ella is making pancakes. Aria and Spencer are watching cartoons while they talk about their day, and Byron is upstairs getting ready since he will take the least amount of time.

Ella hands out the pancakes - chocolate chip, per Spencer and Aria's request - and gives each child their plate and cup of chocolate milk. Afterwards, the two head up to the bathroom with Ella to take a bubble bath and get ready.

* * *

 ** _*Later in the morning*_**

After everyone is dressed and ready to go, Byron walks Mike over to the condo where Ashley and Tom are with Emily, Hanna, and Pam. Then, they are off to their first stop.

Aria and Spencer are going to an art studio. They have a painting class where they will be painting peacocks with their handprints.

The classes are for kids between the ages of 3 and 12, although teenagers/big siblings are welcome also. The classes are broken down by age for preschool, grade school, and the "older" kids.

The class Spencer and Aria are in, the 7- to 9-year-olds' group, it is optional for parents to come back with them. Aria and Spencer have both asked for Ella and Byron to stay in the lobby with the other parents.

Spencer and Aria take their seats at one of the tables.

"This is gonna be so cool!" Aria says as she bounces in her seat. Spencer is bringing over the boards that the kids will paint on, paintbrushes, and cups of water.

"I know! I can't wait to paint the peacocks. I'm going to use summer colors. Pinks, yellows, greens."

"I'm going to do my favorite colors; pink and brown!"

"That will be pretty!" Spencer beams at her friend's compliment.

 ** _*Spencer's P.O.V.*_**

A few minutes later, the art teacher claps her hands together.

"Hello, everyone! My name is Miss Laura, and today we are going to be painting peacocks with our handprints." She walks over to where there is an art easel sitting on top of a table.

"First, before we begin, I need everyone to choose their colors. Just come on up, a few at a time, and I will give you a pallet with your chosen colors."

We already know the colors we want so we go up to the front. "Hi, Miss Laura," I greet, making sure to be polite. "My name is Spencer, and this is my friend, Aria."

"Well, hello, Spencer and Aria. Have you girls decided on your colors yet?"

I nod my head. "Yes, I want brown and pink, please."

"All right, I can certainly do that." Miss Laura pours me some paint on a paper plate. Then Miss Laura asks Aria what colors of paint she wants.

Aria chooses the colors yellow, pink, and green. She also chooses the colors white and blue. She will use the white to make light blue.

After Miss Laura hands us the plates, we go back to our table. Once Miss Laura sees that everyone has finished with getting their paint, she claps her hands together again.

"Okay, everyone," she goes to the table with the art easel. "Now, I want everyone to watch me, and I will help you step by step with what we are going to paint today."

"I want everyone to pick up their small brush. It is going to be the one with the purple handle." Aria and I pick up ours.

"Okay, now, choose any color that you would like, and begin paint the side of your hand."

"What color are you going to start with?" I ask Aria as I look at the colors we picked out. I choose the color brown for my hands.

"I'm going to do green," Aria says. I take my paintbrush and dip it in the brown paint. Then I paint the side of my hand. I have to paint my left hand because I am right handed. Aria chooses green to start with. After we are done with that part, Miss Laura moves onto the next step.

"Okay, does have their hands painted?" We all say yes in some way. Aria and I say "yes, ma'am," because it's polite, but other kids say just "yeah," or "yes, Miss Laura."

"Alright, now, I want you to press the side of your hand onto your paper. Make sure you push nice and hard on it.

After a while more, Miss Laura tells us we can add a face and other things to our pictures. They look really cool. See, the side of your hand is the body of the turkey. Then, we made "feathers" out of our palms but using our fingers.

"Your peacock looks really cool, Spencie!" Aria says. I made a pattern of my colors. I did the body in brown and the feathers in brown and pink.

"Thanks, Ari! So does yours. I like the colors you used for your feathers." Aria did green for the body and then did a pattern for the feathers, dark blue, pink, yellow, light blue, and green.

"What are you going to put on your picture, Spencie?"

"I'm going to put grass, a sun, and clouds. What are you going to do?"

"I'm doing grass, birds, and a sun."

After we get done painting, we put our names on our pictures and then let Miss Laura and her helpers bring them to the front. They are going to stay on a table to dry because that is easier than carrying the painting around all day.

"Come on, Ar! Let's go find Uncle Byron and Aunt Ella." We race each other of the art room and into the bigger room where all table and chairs are.

"Mom, Daddy!" Aria yells to her parents, who I call "Aunt Ella" and "Uncle Byron," and they stand up.

 ** _*Normal point of view*_**

"Hey, girls. Did you two have painting?"

"Yeah! We made peacocks with our hands. We had to paint the side of hands, then use our fingers to make the feathers. It was sooo cool! We have to come back, though, and pick them up later."

"That sounds like fun. We'll come back by after the bookstore and lunch, all right?" As the girls agree, everyone hops into the car. Next up is the library. Then, they will go to McDonald's for lunch before heading back to the condos.

At the library, Ella sets Spencer's watch to beep in 10 minutes, then tells her and Aria that she and Byron are going to be sitting in some chairs waiting for them. They are to stay in the kid's section, not to wander off, and to come and check in with Ella and Byron when Spencer's watch beeps.

They have no set schedule today, so they will stay at the library for as long as Spencer and Aria want to.

"Come on, Ari! I wanna check out the Lego sets they have here."

"Oh!" Aria's eyes light up at that. If there is one thing that _all_ the kids, young and old, have in common, it is their love for Legos. Just between Melissa and Spencer, there are over 1,200 Lego pieces. Put together those plus all the other kids, and well, that is over 7,000 pieces.

"What kinds of Legos do you have right now, Spence? I have the McDonald's set, a castle one, a police station set, a hospital set, and I got the gas station and airport sets for Christmas."

"I already have the airport and hospital ones. I bought the McDonald's with my money and I got a lot of just normal pieces for Christmas."

"So what are you gonna buy today?" The two arrive at the back by now and head straight over to where the Legos section is.

"I wanna buy a carrying case 'cause I was only allowed to bring my hospital and airport ones. Mel has a carrying case and she got to bring her own McDonald's set, her Rocky River Retreat, and some of her extra Legos."

"Oh! I know what you are talkin' 'bout. I brought my carrying case, too. Mamma let me bring both of mine. I have one with my police station and gas station and the other one with just my regular pieces. Mamma said I could bring both 'cause they're so small and fit into my suitcases."

"Maybe we can play with them when we get back to the condo! My mom said it was supposed to rain today, so we can't go to the beach," Spencer tells her. "We can get _alll_ of Legos out and play with them. Maybe Mel will even let us play with her Rocky River Retreat set."

After looking for a while, Spencer finds one that says it will hold all of her Legos, plus, she gets 200 pieces in the case also. And it only costs $5.99, which is only half of her money. Once they have the Legos bought, Spencer and Aria decide to go back and look at the books.

They look for a while. With lots of hard work form her teachers, parents, and even her friends, Aria is now with Spencer on a second-grade reading level. So now, when they go to look at books, they are immediately drawn to those that you would find in a second-grade classroom or those being read by 8-year-olds.

Right now, one of their favorites that Spencer is learning to read more and more by herself and also that Aria can read with help, is _Charlotte's Web_.

Aria is able to read most of the pages by herself, although she does still need help with several of the words. After all, she is only 7 years old and in the first grade. Spencer, however, is able to get through most of it by herself.

* * *

Soon, it is time to leave and head for McDonald's for lunch. By the time, they are finished, having played in the PlayRoom for about 10 minutes, the clouds are starting to move in and there are rumbles of thunder that can be heard in the distance.

So, they quickly load up in the car, make a quick trip to pick up their paintings, and then make their way back to the condos. Once there, Spencer and Aria head inside.

They have to wait for the other kids to come over since Mike, Emily, and Hanna are taking a late-afternoon nap in Veronica and Peter's condo, Courtney and Alison are out with their nanny, and Ashley and Tom have taken the big kids out for some time away from the younger ones.

"Spence, do you wanna play with our Legos or watch a movie now?"

"Um…let's watch a movie! We can play with the Legos when everyone else gets here."

"Okay! My mom brought lots of movies. She brought _Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey_ , _Toy Story, 1, 2, & 3_, _Beauty and the Beast_ , and _Snow White_. Plus, Auntie Ashley let Hanna bring some and she left them over here last night. Hers are all the princess movies, like _Pocahontas_ , and _Aladdin_."

"Hmm…well, we have already watched Mulan, Pocahontas, and The Lion King. Sooo…why don't we watch…um… _Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey_?"

Aria agrees and the asks her dad to put the movie in since she does not know how to operate the VCR player that came with the condo. It is one of the newer ones and doesn't have all the buttons that the Montgomery's older player has at home.

The two girls get settled on the floor with their stuffed animals, blankets, and pillows, and the popcorn that Ella made them. Soon, they, too, are out like a light, having been exhausted from their long day. Neither girl got enough sleep the night before as they both stayed up late, too excited for the cool things they were going to do today.

Their nap lasts about an hour and a half. By then, Emily, Hanna, and Pam show up with Mike as well as the other kids and adults. The storm is now in full-force outside, making it sticky, hot, and humid. So, the dads get the grill going on the, thankfully, covered back porch, and make a dinner of hot dogs, hamburgers, and French fries.

Later though, the kids all pile in the bedrooms and have one big sleepover while the adults go back to their separate condos. Ella and Byron come in to tuck Mike in for bedtime and then stop to do the same with Aria and Spencer.

"Did you girls have fun today?"

"Yes, Mamma, we did. I liked going to the painting class, didn't you, Spencie?"

"Yes! It was very fun. Thank you, Auntie Ella, thank you, Uncle Byron, for taking us to do stuff today."

"I'm glad you had fun. And you are very welcome, Spencer. Goodnight, girls. Night-night, Mike."

"Night-night, Mommy! Goodnight, Daddy! Night-night, sissy and Spencer!"

"Night, Mikey! Goodnight, Mommy and Daddy, and goodnight, Spencie!"

"Goodnight, Mikey! 'Night, Ari. Goodnight, Aunt Ella, and Uncle Byron!

Today has been a fun day for the girls. They may have ended up only doing a few things, but there isn't anything that could have been more fun than simply going to a painting class, the library and McDonald's according to Aria and Spencer.

* * *

 **And here is it! Wow! I have been gone for 7 months…** **I have hit a complete roadblock with this story but I will try not to go that long again.**

 **This is the last vacation chapter. I want to get on with this story. We have about 3 or so more chapters in 1997, then on to Valentine's Day in 1998. Right now, I am asking for any requests _specifically_ for the years of _1998-2000, ages 8 to 11 years_ _old_. If I don't get any, I will do a few chapters for those years, before moving onto middle and high school. So let me know for those specific ages/years! :)**

 **Next Up: 4** **th** **of July BBQ  
Then: Emison day at the pool.  
Lastly: Emily's 8th birthday.**

 **Also, I am going to give Emily a little sibling and I would like your guys' input as to how old Em should be. Here are the options…just vote on which you would like.**

 **Elementary age; 7-11 years old (2nd-5th)  
Middle school age; 11-14 years old (6th-8th)  
Teen/high school; 14-18 years old (9th-12th)**


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